The Manawatu Standard. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY. AUGUST 24, 1885. WANGANUI MEAT PRESERVING WORKS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 72, 24 August 1885, Page 2

Manawatu Standard. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY. AUGUST 24, 1885. WANG ANUI MEAT PRESERVING WORKS.

Onk of the most important industries m Wanganui is Messrs Mitchkll and Richards 1 Meat Preserving Works m Victoria Avenue. On a recent visit we were permitted to go through the establishment which we foun.i most complete m every respect. Indeed, very few persons passing the rather unpretentious looking building, would imagine what an extensive concern it really is. As a rule about 60 hands are employed m the various departments m connection with the establishment, and a large sum weekly is disbursed m wages. We purpose giving a brief description of the works which no doubt will prove interesting to our readers. To begin on the lower floor, we find that the requisite steam with which all the boiling is done is supplied from a 16 horse-power horizontal boiler, from which the steam is taken into the various rooms where the progress of meat preserving is being effected. The pieces of meat intended for corned beef are steeped m brine m concrete tanks,- from which they are taken out and boiled m square "coppers." 1 Several men are employed m weighing and tinning the meit, which emits a very appetising odour, every care being taken as to cleanliness. The Hrm also preserve the meat fresh m rarious forms, also soups, tongues, ox-cheeks, kidneys, fee, &c. To give some idea of the i capabilities of the works, we may state that with the firths two retail butchery establishments m the Avenue, they get through as many as 700 head of cattle m a month, and have often to go so far as Hawcra for supplies. The largest number slaughtered m one week was 181. The temperature m the preserving rooms is necessarily high, as perhaps there are two or three " baths'" full of tins of meat, all bubbling away and undergoing the process of cooking. A handy hydraulic lift is used for the purpose of elevating the tins or lowering as the case may be. Upstairs is the two smiths' 1 department m which all the employees are as busy as nailers turning out tins by machinery m large numbers. After being filled, weighed, cooked, tested, painted and labelled, they are packed m wooden cases, and are then ready for despatch. The boxes for holding the tins for shipment are made at the Wanganui Steam Woodware Factory, where the casks for the tallow are also manufactured. We incidentally learnt from an outside source that the cost of boxes and casks alone frequently amounts to <£2QO a month. This will give aome idea of the business that is carried on. Upstairs the men are sometimes pressed for room to stack the teers of packed cases and loose tins of meats, which are piled from floor to ceiling. The meat is put up m 2, 4, and 61b tins, and has a very extensive sale, the quality and excellence of the manufactured article beirg universally appreciated. The industry is a most promising one. and has already been attended with great success, the present extensive establishment having commenced on a comparatively speaking small scale but a short time ago. The proprietors are most enterprising men, possessing full faith m the future of the business they have established. The pig farm and slaughter yards we had not an opportunity of going over, but intend doing so on a future occasion. In the hour that we spent going over the works m Wanganui we saw enough to convince us that one of the most important and promising industries m the Colony was being carried on there which must yet develop into a much more extensive undertaking. Wanganui has e/ery reason to feel proud of the establishment which has been so successfully founded by Messrs Mitchkll and Richards, and which bids fair to become m course of time a very great source of wealth to the town. Indeed, were any unforeseen contingency to c;iuse it to suspend operations, the effect would bedirect.lv and seriously felt m m.any quarters. It was very pleasant to hear from one source and another ' how pleasant are tho relationships existing between employers iv.id em- 1 ployed, the latter seeming to .

vie with -each other m theii industrious performance of theii several duties; During . the sam.week as we were taken over tlic works, a barque colled the Coquette, was loaded by the firm with tallow and preserved mans* besides hides, bones, horns, &<\ Most of the shipment was for the London Market, but the firm discovered that by sending it by sailing vessel to Sydney, a great saving m freight was effected. There is a 700 acre far.in m connectian with the establishment, and we heard since that a second farm had, or was about to be leased. There seems to be \ ample scope for the firm's opera- j tions, and the necessary capital en- 1 terprise are not wanting to promote j the further extention of the industry and m course of time greatly enhance its present prospects. That ( it will grow into a big concern we have no doubt, and as the excellent \ quality of the product becomes \ known m distant markets the de- j mand will greatly increase. Of! course, we were not permitted to obtain, or indeed did we ask for any information as to the process m detail of preserving, that being a secret of the trade which is the exclusive property of those who have learnt it at the cost of capital, experiment, with possibly repeated failures, and no doubt occasional heavy losses. I Our visit was m all respects most j interesting, and satisfied us how important and encouraging was the future which awaited the further development of the meat preserving industry m Wanganui. Every care is taken to prevent faulty tins being sent out, and Messrs Mitchell & iticiiAßD'sseein determined to build up a business on the principles of upright dealing, energy, and enterprise. We venture to predict for the firm entire success m their operations, and will look forward to their names yet figuring as extensive contractors to the army and navy for preserved meats, both at home and abroad. Many vast establish msnts have had even smaller commencements than had the Wanganui concern, and it seems to us that as the firm's operations extend, so will their manufacturing capacity increase. They have no reason at present to complain of the trade now being done, which at times taxes their resources to the utmost to overtake. And the present is only the day of small things withjhem, so to spet'k. Who can predict that within a few years more the establishment will not have assumed equal importance to the works at Auckland. If energy, perseverance, and enterprise will accomplish this goal, sucli a result is capable of achievement.