SHIPMENT OF FROZEN MEAT.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2445, 6 February 1882, Page 4

SHIPMENT OF FROZEN MEAT.

The ship Dunedin, now lying at Port Ohalx&ors (says the “Daily Times”), baa been recently fitted with a Bell-Ooleman apparatus for the purpose of an experimental shipment of frozen meat from New Zealand to England, and she is now far progressed in loading. ■Tbe success that attended the trial shipments from Australia gave an incentive to the same enterprise in this country, and the New Zealand and Australian Land Company have been the first to give the experiment a trial Here. The Dunedin is a finely.built vessel of 1250 tons register, and it was originally intended that she should take, besides general cargo, 7000 carcases of sheep to the English market. This number has, however, since been reduced, and 5000 will probably be nearer the number actually ■hipped, as the unfortunate breaking of a crank on board the vessel temporarily suspended operations. The sheep are supplied from the company’s Totara Estate, and we quote the following extract from the “North Otago Times” as to the method of slaughter* ang and despatching them from that station : “Six butchers, with attendant satellites, are engaged in the sanguinary part of the business, and 240 carcasses are despatched to Dunedin every morning by the first train. The sheep deatined for the morrow’s slaughter are ou the previous day drafted into a yard, where they have to remain fasting for twenty-four hours, so as to be in the proper condition for killing. At four o'clock every morning work begins, when the nnmber hilled -on the previous day, after hanging to cool for twenty-four hours, are pooted in meatvans fitted for the purpose, with hanging Apparatus y ventilators, and ice cheat in the centre of each, and five vans, each containing from fifty to sixty sheep, are taken on to their destination by the morning train. Previous to this the carcases are hung after killing in a meat house built for the purpose, with one wall, and the floor constructed of narrow hoards, placed an inch or so apart, in such a manner as to admit of a free current of fresh air. This shed is fitted to bang 250 head of eheep, each carcase being allowed a space of £6in square. While haoging here the carcases

are all carefully cleaned, and all superfluous fat, &o, that may remain on them after passing through the butchers’ hands removed.” On the arrival of the vane at Port Chalmers they are drawn np alongside the vesiol, and the carcases are passed out into the “ ’tweendeoks,” in which the temperature is kept so low ns to partially freeze them only. The two boilers attached to the apparatus are each c ipable of bearing a pressure of 160 lbs to the square inch, but each one in ordinary working is kept at GOlbs, a pressure quite sufficient for the purpose. The engines ere fitted with four cylinders, all on one bedplate—one steam, one expansion, _and_ two compressing cylinders; each is 21in in diameter, the stroke is 24in, and 60 revolutions are made to the minute. The temperature maintained between decks is, as we have said, enough to freeze the carcases about skindeep. Here they are hung (some alight distance apart) for twenty-four hours, during which time they cool gradually, and are each sewn into a coarse calico bag. At the expiration of this time they are shitted into the lower hold, where they are packed head and tail as closely as they can be stowed, and the real freezing is here performed. The engines on board the Dunedin can, if required, maintain the temperature here considerably below zero, but 28 degrees is found to be all that is required for the voyage. The meat is thoroughly frozen after remaining here for twenty-four hours, and a visit to this port of the vessel is disagreeably suggestive of an Arctic expedition. The hold is of course rendered air tight by closely-fitting doors, and on entering from a comparatively warm atmosphere the visitor is (not figuratively) ‘•chilled to the marrow of his bones.” _ The meat is ranged closely and symmetrically on either side, and is reduced to such a state of frigidity that on being tapped it emits the hard hollow sound of a mass of limber. The iron stanchions, moreover, are coated with a thin layer of frost that renders their touch exceedingly uncongenial; and the ceiling is similarly adorned, although in much greater quantity. Under foot, however, this is varied by actual snow, which lies pretty thickly in the open space, and can be gathered into a solid mass. All things considered, a visit to the Dunedin leaves no doubt upon the mind of a spectator as to the successful preservation of tbo meat during the voyage. The only question to be considered is one of cost, and if thia can be satisfactorily adjusted, there seems every hope for the frozen meat trade of the future. The Dunedin will shortly complete her loading, and will probably sail on the 11th inst.