WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1871.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 154, 5 July 1871, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1871.

A "Local Industry" of some importance was undertaken in Canterbury four years ago, aodjias, now assumed cousklerable importance. head of "Bacon Curing" the " Lyttelton Times furnishes an interesting account of it, and we now make some extracts from the article in the hope that it may lead to au enterprise of a similar nature beiug inaugurated here. After alluding to several companies that had at one time and another been formed for the purpose of curing bacon, preserving meat, &c, our contemporary goes on to give an account, of two large establishments that are now eDgaged in Canterbury in the former occupation. The first of these belongs to the firm of M'Connell & Co., who last year employed a staff of six men, which has since been increased to fifteen, and they now, not only export to all the New Zealand markets, but also to Australia and the Mauritius. Last year they exported 150,000 lbs. of bacon and hams, but this year they anticipate sending away at least 200,000 lbs. Nor is this all, for, in order to clear tbe farmer of all his hogs, they not only purchase those suitable for bacon, but also those animals that are only adapted for salt pork, of which article they this year anticipate exporting 20,0001h5. Already upwards of 50 tons of bacon and pork have beeu cured which represents 2000 pigs, and this forms only half of the quantity they propose to cure during the present season. The method adopted for killing the pi?s is thus described by the Times : — " When brought to the slaughter-house, they are placed in the large yards and thence passed, as require^ into a small pen, which greatly facilitates their capture for killing. The process is exceedingly simple but most effective. It is borrowed from our American cousins and could scarcely be improved upon. The small pen opens into the killing-shed where four men are generally employed. One of the men seizes oue of the animals by one of its hind legs, round which he passes the noose of a rope attached to a windlass. This done, another of th,e|men turns the latter untill " piggy " pended head downwards some three or four feet from the ground. The butcher then advances, gives the animal his quietus, and leaves it to bleed until dead. The whole process is quiet aud expeditious. The animal being suspended, cannot struggle much, whilst at the same time a saving of labor is effected in no one being required to hold the animal wJijlst dying. The blood falls . into a dra^i which is constantly flushed by water from an artesian well, which, in its course flows over, the floor of the killing-shed, and keeps it cleau. The pig, when dead, is lowered into a trough, which is supplied with hot water from a boiler erected alongside. Having been scraped, the ; animal is hung up again by aid of the wiudlass, and opened. The entrails being taken out, are divested of fat and the "runners," and then put aside for burial. This, we should say, is done every night, so that no nuisance can be created.,. The fat is sent to be boiled down — as much as two tons being so disposed of in one week — and the "runners" are made into sausage skins for exportation. The next process is to take out the backbone. This is done now for the purpose, not ouly of removing the bone itself, but to expedite' the cooling of the carcase — a more important matter than would at first Bight appear, for the sooner the sides and hams are in &lt after they are killed the better do they« cure. The bone then is taken out, firs? By opening the carcase down the back on the outside, and then, with a small cleaver, separating it from the ribß. This process, to be done successfully, and not to waste the meat, requires, an expert hand, wh^ch, frdm practical demonstration, we must sajr Messrs. M'Connell and Co. certainly possess. After this work is accomplished, the sides a\e carried to the adjoining cooling shedfcHvhich is constructed of open wicker-work, and from thence they are carted every morning to the curing factory. Such is the celerity with which the operations noted are carried out, that a pig is killed and finished off ready for carting to the factory in eight minutes, and as one

animal succeeds another, all the men are kept constantly employed in their respective branches of the work without clashing with each other in any way. Four men have killed as many as fifty pigs in one day. Next year, we understand Messrs. M'Connell and Co. purpose providing still further facilities for carrying on the work in this department. An eight-horse power boiler is to be used, and an immense trough provided, iv which tubes from the boiler will keep the water constantly at boiling heat, and which will permit three or more pigs being scalded at once. The nightly burial of the offal, aud the constant flow of water through the slaughter-house, keeps the premises in a thoroughly clean state, and at the time of our visit it was perfectly impossible to detect the slightest approach to an unpleasant odour." The article before us goes on to describe the whole process of salting aud smoking, but we have given enough to show to what an extent this business is carried on in the neighboring province of Canterbury. Such au establishment might, we should think, be made to answer extremely well here, and we recommend it to the notice of some of our Farmers' Clubs.

Winter Evening Lectures. — The Rev. G. H. Johnstone is announced to deliver the fourth lecture of the series on Friday evening next, on "Kome, Ancient and Present." Wellington Football Club. —Tt appears from the Post that this Club is fast getting into working order, and that a Challenge is to be shortly issued to the Nelson Club. Nelson Artizans' Association. — We have been requested to state Vpnt k full attendance of niembers is called' for this evening, at the usual time and place, for the election of officers and other business transactions. Mr. John E. Mabin sold this day by public auctioD, by order of the Executors of the late Samuel Pearse, Town Acres 546, 547, and part of 548, together with sections C 9 and C 10, containing in all about 12 acres, and situajte in Brookstreet, for £210. ■#■_■;■■: '"'"'?■ Suburban North Road Board.—^-The annual meeting of this Board was held on Monday last. By the accounts there appeared to have been £900 spent on roads in the district during the past year. The balance sheet was examined nndvjadopted, and an unanimous vote of thanks passed to the Board. The three retiring members were re-elected, as also Mr. Batchelor as Chairman of the Board. Telegraphic from Dunedin. — Through the Wellington Post we learn that Captain Blethen, of the Nevada, entertained the Superintendent, Provincial Government, and members of the Provincial Council at a luucheon yesterday (July 4) on board that vessel. — The Provincial Council is going in for a general system of retrenchment. The Superintendent's salary has been reduced to £800 a-year. — M'Glasban's mill was destroyed on Monday last by fire. — The escort had brought down 1 1,000 ounces of gold. Railways in OtagA. — We learn from the Otago Daily Times of the 26th ult., that The survey report of Mr. Brunton, C.E., to the Ministry qf Public Works, relative to the constru'grffion of the railway line between Invercaugill and the Mataura, has been published. In it Mr. Brunton states that " it is rafely that the natural features of a country^ are so favorable to railway construction as this is, and it is with every confidence that I state a good single line, 3ft 6iu guage, with the necessary sidings, &'c, can be made and equipped for £2500 per mile, including a substantial bridge over the Mataura river." \ Mr. Wm. Dale, says a Melbourne contemporary, has arrived iv Melbourne, from New Zealand for the purpose of patenting an invention, which, if as successful on a large scale as it is in'tW model shown, will be of very great benefit' The invention is for weighing cargo on board ships, and is a discovery and adaptation by Messrs. Roff and Simmons. Mr. Dale exhibits a model of a vessel floating in water, and every pound weight put on board, no matter in what part of the vessel* is indicated on a dial by the pointing of a hand. The dial maty be placed in any part of the ship, and $>y a glance at any time when at sea the* captain can tell if the ship is leakirig,,anjd to whirft extent. "Nelson CfTY."—IA. .co-respondent of the West Coast Timet hrn supplied that journal with some int|j^Bting "Notes of New Zealand Travel,"|faraoug: which we find the following, Jelating 'to " Nelson City/ as he is pleaded jo call it :~Nelson is a great contrasted'' Wei lib'gton in every respect — and alitor thf best. It is all green gardens^nd trees and verdure, with level land inySbundancel To distinguish it in our memories, • 'wtefc^p'^Wpdcfated it with the general charactenstics tiiat wp observed , and it stands with. 4 us as Garden Nelson — a green English village of a place

that has slowly grown, and will always slowly grow, and never become too much of a smoky, hurrying, factory-like city. It is a sea-side depot of a large pastoral country — and looks like it. Looks like to the head quarters of a population that live upon the products of nature, and not on those of art and manufactures. There are many pretty rides and drives out of Nelson, one being to a suburb named Wakapuaka, which is euphoniously sounded as Walk-uppa-walker, and, as an exercise for the tongue, can be put alongside of the river Waimakarari, spoken of in the Christchurch chapter. We landed here a family that had come from the Cape to settle, selecting New Zealand of all other places for that purpose, and this spot of all others there. Much can be said in Nelson's favor. Its climate is of the best in New Zealand, and so is its land. There is less rain there than in any other New Zealand towns and not so much of wind. The people of the place, we noticed, never thought of leaving it to go elsewhere. They had irijerided^Nelson for their home when they\went to it, and were well satisfied to think as much of it the more years they stayed\jn it. Trafal-gar-street, Nelson, is not to'be counted as one of " The streets of the World " as yet, and the Englishman walking it will not know himself to be out of England, and think probably that he is in one of its Wiltshire towns as he walks the pathways of Nelson. Our Letter prom Home. — Under this heading the Greymouth Evening Star publishes an amusing skit, containing among other allusions the following reference to the visit of the Colonial Treasurer to England: — "Mr. Yogel, I am informed, is likely to be knighted under the title of Baron Jexolius. Since his arrival here he has rendered himself immensely popular by exhibiting the versatility of his talents. The night before last he performed as an amateur in the farce of " Raising the Wind," in which he played the principal character. Afterwards he took a leading part iv the play of " A New Way to Pay Old Debts." His reading of the part was quite original. During the intervals of the pieces he saug with charming effect the song of " And that's the way the money goes." Mr. Yogel js directing his attention to the subject of New Zealand Flax. He has had au interview with Calcraft, the public/ executioner, whp has assured him that New Zealand Flax, converted into threoquarter inch rope answers admirably for halters. He gave Mr. Yogel a large order. I understand that Mr. Yogel (following the excellent example of Dr. Featherston, who exported a small colony of natives from Sweedeo) did, when in America, arrange to forward out to Wellington a considerable number of Ojibbaway Indians. He has merely done this by way of experiment. The Ojibbaways will have allotted to them a hundred acres of land each, and a sufficient number of agriculturists supplied them to cultivate it. Mr. Yogel has, I understand, given Mr.. Low*, the Chancellor of the Exchequer some very valuable hints upon Finance. Mr. Lowe, it appears, had labored under a fanatical impression that when he raised a loan he was bound to see his way clear a3 to its repayment. Mr. Yogel explained to him that such a thing was quite unnecessary. Borrowing was one thing ; repayment was another. The two things should never be confounded. The departments should be quite separate and distinct. Speaking for himself, as Colonial Treasurer, his duty was to raise bars. It was someone else's duty to repay them." Royal Arch Freemasonry. — The consecration of the Royal Arch Chapter of Westland took place on Monday, June 26, at the Masonic Hall, Hokitika, under letters patent from the Earl de Grey and Ripon, authorising the Past Principal, John Lazar, Esq., to constitute a Royal Arch Chapter under a Charter from the Superior Grand Chapter of England. Companion H. A. Gorson was installed as Two Principal, and Companion J. Shephard as Three Principal, after which the Chapter was opened in due form, and. nineteen brethren of the craft were exalted to this sublime degree. The decorations and paraphernalia of the Chapter are much more costly than that Craft Masonry, and upon this occasion every care and attention had been paid to render these as effective as possible. On the north and south side of the Chapters were the distinguished ensigDS of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, while on each side of the canopy, at the east were placed the standards of the four divisions of the Array of Israel. The latter were beautifully painted on satin, the former on zinc, and were supported with staves most elaborately gilt; the painting reflecting great credit on the artiatj Mr. Cooze. The robes worn by the Three Principals, were of crimson, purple, and blue, richly interlaced wjth white satin, and were' tastefully made up by Mrs. Halifax. The sceptres were of pure white and gold surmounted by a crown.

miire. and "the all-seeing eye." Iv fact the tout ensemble was most imposing, and we are informed that the ceremony was performed in a most impressive manner by all who officiated. For remainder of news see fourth page. ==========================