MEAT SUPPLY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 706, 5 August 1869, Page 4

MEAT SUPPLY.

The Melbourne Leader, in contrasting tiie solid and substantial character" ol the Australian preserved meat with the r-xtract of meat exported from South America, thus speaks of the latter:— How differently the case presents itself in South America. There they do not attempt to produce the palatable and cheap article in the form ol •iwliil beef and mutton which we do. They send to market a commodity which, as an article of commerce, i> infinitely inferior, because it is both very dear and more lit for hospital use, and other rare purposes, than for the large steady demand of the million, namely, Liebig's extract oi meat. Nevertheless, the enterprising genius of one man has secured die ready contribution of a capital amounting to h.-.lf a million sterling, to be employed in the production ol i he extract in the State of Buenos Ayres. Willi these ample funds, he 'has entered upon his preparation ol this condensed food upon a vast scale, and his enterprise has been attended with the most signal com mercial success, though Liebig's ex tract cannot for a moment compare in palatable and nutritious qualities* with Australian preserved meat M. Gieberr, a native of Hamburgh, is the man whose genius has accout [dished this. The little Gaucho village, of two or three mud huts, named Fray Beutos, on a small in let of the River Plate, has by this industry been raised in the course oi three years to a town of 20U0 iuhab itants, whilst 1500 individuals arcdirectly employed at the factory, and a large shipping business has been called into existence. A detailed description of the works, and a his tory of the origin, given in a Buenos Ayres newspaper, are now before us. and we regret we have only space to m ike a passing reference to both. M. Gieberr, who had been long resident in South America, witnessed the great waste of beef and mutton iu the Bauda Oriental Stites there, where sheep and cattle were slaughtered in hundreds of thousands an nually, f<r their skins, hoofs, horns and bones. He bethought himself ol utilising this meat, and went in 1562, to Munich, where he studied the art of producing extract of meal under the great chemist Liebig. In due time he returned to South America, bringing the requisite machinery with him, and com nenced on a small scale. He sent samples of his product to Liebig, who gaye ii the stamp of his approval. With the great chemist's imprimatur upon it, the article got iuiuimediately into large demand lor invalids and hospi tals. lis success was assured. Tnis was in November iSGL In July, ldo3, Mr Giebert went again to Europe to raise further capital. His tame had gone before him, and he at once found gentlemen in London who provided him with capital to the amount of j£500,000. He forthwith commenced providing himself with machinery of an improved and greatly enlarged character. He returned to South. America iu July, 18GJ. His new machinery quickly followed, j

'and the whole of Ins works were all, I completed by May 28, 1868. On that day lie began operations with the slaughter of 150 cattl<\ la a few days the number rose to 350 per day. And when the account from which we quote was published, viz., early it) September, 1863, the number killed A'a's 4'20 auimals per day, which was to be increased in November (1868) to that of 600 auimals per day. Exactly four years previously M. Giebert commenced operations at Fray Bentos with 1U bullocks per day. The shipping to which the establishment gives employment i i the export and import trade created by it, numbered in 1868, 50 vessels. Coal, salt (fur the hides), chemicals, and other European produce and manufactures from the imports to Fray Bentos ; and the place is fast becoming a most busy and prosperous commercial entrepot. The extract it self, however,is always shipped in large steamers, trading between England and the River Plate, and not in sailing vessels. It is made up in tins of from 831 bs to lOOlbs each—two tins in one |) 0X — ciri( J js invoiced wholesale at JblO per box. The demand exceeds tiie supply, and it is in use in every country of Europe and America. Here is a success, achieved under difficulties unknown in Australia, that should shame our squatters, merchants, and moneyed men into luiuisbing ample capital to enable the Australian colonies to compete for some share in the prolicide work of supplying our surplus .neat to the underfed miilious of Europe.