Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY. AUGUST 26, 1884. PREJUDICES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 230, 26 August 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. TUESDAY. AUGUST 26, 1884. PREJUDICES.

Of the many stumbling blocks with which industries of all sorts have to contend, prejudice is undoubtedly the greatest. We have already expressed this opinion when dealing with the question of local industries, but every new attempt at establishing an industry offords more convincing proof of it than the last. Several residents of this colony ,who have recently visited the Old Country, tell us of the prejudice that exists there against frozen meat. We hear repeatedly that butchers dare not admit their meat to be from the colonies, although a large quantity of what they sell as prime English mutton has been reared m New Zealand. AMr Hirst writes to the Lyttelton Times on the same subject, and relates having strolled down a London street one day, when he noticed a butcher's shop m which was displayed some magnificent mutton, labelled *« prime Southdown. 11 Getting into conversation with the proprietor, he received the admission that the meat was nothing less than New Zealand frozen mutton. There is a very visible difference between our meat and true English mutton, and m spite of the name whiph the Jatter has acquired, it is describeel as not bearing comparison with New Zealand mutton, which is bright and firm, compared

with the loose, almost flabby nature of the Home-bred, which is of a yellowish and less inviting color. The meat referred to above as seen by Mr Hirst m the London butcher's shop was marked Is 2d per lb. Now it is very evident that the frozen meat trade from New Zealand suffers infinitely more from the prejudice which Home consumers i persist m holding against it, than from the innumerable and apparently almost insurmountable difficulties which are attendant upon the successful establishment of the trade itself. Five years ago no one would have believed it possible to kill a sheep m New Zealand and serve the same mutton fresh on English tables. Since then the freezing process has been proved practicable, the chief obstacles being only the expense of fitting up a fleet of ships with refrigerating apparatus, the establishment of companies to conduct the meat export and Home distribution business, and the supply, m large quantities, of sheep for killing and freezing. All of these initiatory difficulties have now for the most part been surmounted, and the growers would be well satisfied if they could realize even two-thirds of the price m the London market that the meat referred to above was selling at. What, then, is the reason that these prices are not realisable ? Why is it that New Zealand mutton will only fetch Is 3d, when sold for " prime Southdown " It is because there is a prejudice existing against it m the minds of the English consumers. There is no tangible foundation for this prejudice, and consequently it should be easily removed. But those who know the stubbornness of John Bull, know that to drive a motion into the average Englishman's head when he already holds an opposite one, is no easy matter. In fact, the first operation is to drive the old motion out, to make room for the new one, and this should be the aim of all Colonials. In fact, when the meat is really so good and is so readily sold under a false name, it strikes one that there must be some mismanagement somewhere m the mode of placing it m the market. At any rate, the task of ascertaining the most feasible way of removing the prejudice that exists m English minds against New Zealand frozen mutton, now devolves upon the directors of all Frozen Meat Companies, and until they succeed m accomplishing the defeat of this serious drawback to the trade, any hopes of its becoming ultimately a permanent outlet for our surplus stock are somewhat vague, and their eventual realization appears a rather remote contingency.