BUTTER AND BEEF.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 102, 24 December 1879, Page 2

BUTTER AND BEEF.

A COUPJ-E of brief cablegrams appeared in tlie papers a few days ago, which inay have a more direct bearing, the one Tim the other, than would, at first sight appear. One was ? f rom the Old Country, informing us that" a process of perserving butter without^ the u^se of salt had J jhe.e*n discovered, . whereby the delicious the newly made article was preserved. Eor particulars; of the invention we shall have, to await,. the arrival of the mail, as beyond the fact .that the agent used was a .combination pf ; sfo chehiibals, details , were, hqfc for T > warded. -lii the meantime we are in Jihe dark as" to the superior . ad vantages r^&S heW^ over* tho: old; method. But L ,that they are fgreat, we "are led to conclude, : fcom 'their having been, deemed rsiji-ficWritly ' important to yrarrant, the 'expense of- flashing theyhe'w.'to; the antipodes. We shall, therefore, await the arriv^ of .further particulars with a cert'ain-iclegree of interest, as the discovery may have a beneficial infliience on* the* colony in more ways than one. '■y. The other cablegram to which we .refer-Wasifrom Sydney, and informed us that prime beef was sellmg in thaj; qity at: a- half- penny per pburid. If this -intelligence be correct, it is a matter of i.eriQUS-mbment to the colony of New South Wales. That it; is so- has been amply verified by the -testimony of a gentleman recently: returned from that colony, who has assured, us. that .purchasei's 1 can: have the pick of almost any station there at JBCjter hea'd ! This is a serious matter for a colony like- New iSd*ath "VS^ales, in which catfcle^rearing holds aypromineht positibn 'among its industries. Anyone of ordinary.intelHgenqe must see that such a- .wholesale rlduc-ioh in the price of cattle, as has taken, place' in that'co.lqny during the last two years, portends grayer disasters .to it tKan a fall of even two pence J >er pound in the price of wool w^>uld do 6 our own. ,It will, therefore, behove the rnnholders of New South Wales to leave iijo stone unturned in their endca- . "ybrCtp. counteract the disastrous conse-? r'qaehcep of this .wholesale -depreciation ui tlie value of their produce, This Wrings-jus to the more immediate object ,w>e .iav.e in view, in directing attention to .the two cablegrams under notice, which, ( by a strange coincidence, appeared.! almost simultanequsly. • y-'-i •Frorii time 1 immemorial, s.alt,/eifcher. in r its. crude state or converted into brine, been recognised as the only, or at. rleast,-ithe orthodox /means T of preserving 7 "Fori generations ! people ylu*.^ been content to jog on in the'' ways of jtheir ancestors— to keep well in therruts worn down "bjy thei/forefath'ers.'y But'of* late people have become: .demoralised, ahd have forlsakem the honest paths of rtheJ.gP^qdioldj:;Soulß- of a hundred-years ;ago. f jTfie grb^ipg greedoff gain^hich possessiM' the present, generation, , ; has. Deela '^dnab'lb to resist the temptation pffie^ed.by jhe greSt^diaparity in the fpri6e l of'.thelt*flco a^cles^-increase, the legitimate* profits j of fthe <daii^-^yi tHe ' s*SßrepJiil?ou'| admi^tuye^pf;: an, undue iprpportibn of the . preserving element with their butter. To such an extent I has this been carried, that during our colonial experience, we haye, on more

than one occasion, had butter placed before ns, which approached more closely the confines of Jiuttered salt than of salted butter. This' practice of adulterating butter— for it can be designated by no >more suitable term— -has; no doubt, had) something to do with the discovery, the news of; which was flashed to us the other day. To a certain extent our'remarks as tp butter-.curing are applicable tobeef.^ Salt is the generally recognised " curing " medium, and has bhenso for generations. . As with butter, so with-beef,- we have" been content to tread in. "the good old. ways " of our forefathers, without giving the matter a second thought as to whether some better process might not be devised. We do riot refer to tinned meats, for these kre partially cooked, and, as such are foreign to the object „we-have. in view. It is true that within tbelastfew years,, the freezing- process .has been adopted on a small scale, but its cost is said *°"be an obstacle to its bomihg into general use. In order to get rid of thqir surplus beef, the breeders of New South Wales hare had to fall back on the old-fashioned method of "salting." Though the temptation to use an undue quantity of salt in the process is not so great, as in buttering, it-prevails, to some extent, and experience proves, in the great majority of .instances, that the beef is "as salt as brine." If chemistry can do so much fpjr butter-c-if it can ret volutionise the present.method of curing it— a method which has-been in -vogue for centuries— -the. probability is that it can be turned to practical and profitable account in the matter of meat-curing alsb. What we would suggest, to the stock-producers bf New South Wales* is that they should combine, .and offer a good thumping reward — a. reward sufficient to induce practical. and scientific men to devote a little timo and attention to the subject-rfor an efficient inexpensive procesSvpf preserving meat, either ip the carcass pr tiercod. We feel ' assured that , ran appeal -in. this matter made to philanthropjsts at IJome would be liberally responded to! "*■ Should such a . ponsumtu^tiop. be achieved it would not only aid th* colony in ifs present emergency, but would also confer immense benefits pin inillions of laboring men and women; % the Old Gountry, to whom animal food is a luxury, untasted, at. the *present time, ' for months together. The benefits resulting from suoh a process ; being dis- j covered, not be' confined to thej laboring classe?. The npddle' classes would alsp participate in • them. The njiddle .classes are Great Britain's backbone, and these, owing tc the depression of. trade at present, and yfor, many months past prevailing, find-meat at its present price— from one shilling to eighteeppence a pound — a tremendous 'tax on their . resources.' ;.-3?ew in this colony have any idea of -the frightful distress which permeates the middle and lower strata of society at Home at the present moment, and we, aua.indisppsed to Ijft the .veil from the 'fjn|ure. IFhich awaits them durmg u tKe^^pi baching winter, These cbnside»a^ps weigh with us in thinking , that for cb'-6peratiohJin|s6me such a scheme hs we have sugges-ed would • i^eta^ith liberal response at the ? hands of the philanthropists-pf. the Home country-— and their name, we are proud'to say, is Legion . -We plight go :^ further, an, d say that this is a matter-hot beneath thenotice of the imperial $6Verh ment. Our argument in support of this view, is simply "this, that if the working classes —those from which our Army and Nayy are recruited— are to be deprived of the diet to which they and their progenitors have been accustomed-4the raoe. will speedily degeperate aa surely as tlie night follows the day. Question it whoso lists* "The roast beef of old England" forms no, mean factor in giving her soldiers and sailors that indomitable pluck and courage that makes them what they are— deprive them of this, and their prestige will fade away. "We throw.out tfyese hints for thebenefit of those so deeply interested in this matter. "a ; ' a