MEAT CURING.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 701, 19 July 1869, Page 3

MEAT CURING.

The following letter, upon the above interesting subject, appears in a recent issue of the Otago Daily Times:— Sir, —In your issue of the 7th June I observe a short paragraph more reassuring than all the redundancy of legislation w t . have been treated to during the meeting of tlte Council just closed. I refer to the curing of meat for the home and foreign mar kets, which" appeals forcibly to all who have a stake in tha country, to the employer of labor as well as to those who have their labor only to dispose of—who must all have felt the vortex which the continually di minishing prices of produce from the land is continually drawing them into with a force tending to increase in a compound ratio. Those who had certain expenses ur engagements to meet, when one sheep represented a pound, sent one sheep to market, but now to pay the same amount they must send four; and so on until prices fall below zero, or until some one comes to the , rescue with a practical idea, and raises our stagnant trade into a state of vitality. This, [ think, is the philosopher's stone, the source of wealth which will make Otago rise out of her ashes We have an un , limited mine of wealth in the shape of bee) and mutton, present and prospective, waiting to be exchanged for the surplus gold of Great Britain, which only wants enteprise and commerce to develop a source of national wealth, as is demonstrated bv the success of the Australian Meat Company, and also by the condition in which hams arrive from the old country (drifted here by the current of trade about as wisely as if we were to send our lignite to Newcastle). I can further add my personal experience for these last six months, as I have been endeavoring to initiate this branch of trade, and have induced several parties to try the cured rolled mutton. The first twenty sheep I had done were four-toothed merino ews, the lambs of which had been sold fat.

Loose fat, 12 lbs. each, at 4d per lb. ... £"> 4 0 Skin 0 10 Two rolled sides, 20 lbs. each, at 6d.... 1 0 0 £1 5 0 Expenses, about 0 2 0 £l3 0 The same sheep would run, bought in Dunedin, Bj,B j , which would leive a profit of 15s, or nearly 200 per cent. Could any thing be more satisfactory as to a money result ? It also shows it to be simply folly to boil down when mutton is selling at 10d per pound by the e rcase in tho London market. Should the price be raised in this country, I hold even Mr Graham's customers will be benefited, as the Saturday night sales do not conduce to frugality, but on the contrary lead to waste. One will offer a shilling for a side for cat's meat; while another, by way of chaff, will offei sixpence more for his big kangaroo dog at home. Now, I humbly think this is not the way to treat the blesssings so liberall; bestowed upon us, which many a starving familv at home would rejoice to be able to procure at a moderate price, and which it is our duty, as well as our interest, to place within their reach. Should this letter be the means of bene fifing this country, and the all but hopeless poor of the old, my end in writing will be attained. 1 may mention without egotism, that at the time of the agricultural distress consequent upon the repeal of the Corn Laws, I wrote to Sir Robert Peel, suggesting that Government should advance money upon the security of ♦he land for improvements by draining, &c., in order that the low prices might be met by increased productiveness of the soil. In six weeks afterwards tins proposal culminated in the Drainage Act, under wnicli five millions were spent to the great benefit of the country at large, and of all parties concerned, with how different a resuUfrom the money sprnt in war, vide New Zealand or the Abyssinian expedition. —I am, &c, Thomas MuiiHAY. Mount Stewart, June 7 1,18C9.