The Daily Telegraph. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1884.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3932, 26 February 1884, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1884.

Some of the causes operating against, the full success of the frozen meat trade 1 are exposed in a letter of the London correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. He speaks of a Mr Donald Eraser; an Australian squatter, now on a visit to England, and who has been directing his attention to the subject of frozen meat, and its disposition by agents and butchers. The colony will possibly hear from Mr Fraser himself, and we arc assured that the opinion of such an authority cannot fail to have weight. Mr Fraser advocates an entirely different system to that which now prevails of dealing with Australian frozen meat. At the present moment the consignments arc made in tho main to an agent in London, who charges a commission of 5 per cent., in addition to storage and deck charges. As a matter of fact, however, this gentleman does nothing beyond, possibly, endorsing the drafts and financing, the speculation.. The real work is done by the big butcher, who plays the part of sub-agent, and re- j ceives from tho chief agent some 2 per cent, for selling the meat to the retail butchers in Smithfield Market and elsewhere. Mr Fraser's is that the chief agent might well be dispensed with, and thus 3 per cent, saved to the Australian producer. The storage charges too are* found to be very high. In addition to a freightage of 2£d per.lb, the charges of the storage companies are . something like 2s a carcase for the; first week, after which there is a,diminution of the amount. It will be seen from these figures how small a margin of profit is left to the Australian producer. 6 per cent, to ?tho agent, 2£ for freightage, an average of.'ie per carcase for storage,.and a £d per lb., for cartage and incidental charges is too large a sum for the trade to developo upon. It is unfortunate, says tho correspondent, that at the present moment we are having such a large ; stock of Australian mutton thrown upon the Lpndpn,, market.; : Shippers on the, /Australian side,of the, globe ought to remember tbaifrora-Noyembertb the end, of-January b

all the English markets are glutted with game, and owing to the season of the year, the facilities for keeping fresh ■ meat, and from the transmission of meat from the continent of America, constitute elements which are unfavourable to the Australian mutton. Moreover, it must surely be a bad time of the year to purchase mutton in Australia for arrival in England just before Christmas. The frozen meat is, nevertheless steadily advancing in price, because of its improved quality. " I have to-day seen some New Zealand mutton, which not one purchaser in a thousand could tell from English or Scotch, so excellent is it in colour and quality." The Fenstanton shipment arrived in good weather and a short market. This last week the weather has been somewhat unfavorable, and larger quantities of English mutton have arrived, so that prices are not quite so good. Excepting merinos, all the mutton now in the market is of firstclass quality. There is a difficulty in sorting , the different lots which come to the London markets, owing to the different companies using duplicate numbers. Each sheep (I quote from the return of Mr Fitter, a large salesman) ought to have a larger tally attached, bearing the name of the company and their number, and on the wrapper there ought to be some distinctive mark or letter. Messrs Ward and Stimson's price list shows that the Doric sold from 3s 0d to 4s, town killed foreign meat selling at 4s 2d to os., and Scotch killed mutton at os Gd to 6s. I may mention that the price for American beef killed at Deptford is 4s 6d to 4s lid., and Scotch beef os to os 4d. As_ a supplement to the above we append a ticket taken from Mr Filter's shop in Leadenhall Market by Mr J. A. Ryan, of Gennaria, Dubbo, (brother of Mr T. J. Ryan, of this town) during his recent visit to Europe : — LIST OF PRICES. New Zealand mutton per steamship British King. per lb. Sheep or sides .. .. 7?d Hind quarters .. . • 9d. Fore quarters . ■ .. 7d. Legs with necks .. .. Bjd Legs with breasts .. .. 3^-cl Legs 10d Saddles B|d Loins .. .. ■ ■ Sgd Shoulders .. .. .. 8 : ]-d Shoulders with necks .. 7£d Shoulders with breasts .. 7-kl Necks .. .. .. 7d Breasts .. ... .. 5d