Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 1881.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 159, 6 July 1881, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 1881.

From both recent telegrams and our newspiper exchanges we Itarn that the question of establishing a trade in frozen meat with Eaglaud is fating actively taken up, not only in the somlu, but ia the Wellington and Hawke« Biy districts as well. Although in Nelson wo buve nut the flocks aud herds of whicta tkey c»n br ast in Oiago and Canter b»ry, or th» rich pasiure land which abounds botweea T<uanaki and Wellington and which will 8»:>n b« siockad when once this trade ia developed, the question is one which still possesses a oo: siderable amount of iuterest £>r our farmers for whose benefit we publish :he following information obtained from a coodausaJ reoors which appears in the W*nIfiaui Herald of au addiess daiirered to a ■ .umeroas gathering of those interested in ins matter at CirUrton by Mr Buchanan, the 7resldfcEt of flO local Agricultural and Pastoral Ais jciatioQ. II« commenced by sUtiDg ihst th» only outlet sfc present available for ih* surplus stock was the boiling down establishments, the prices obuin*d therefrom baing moit unsati»ficiory, at he himstlf «culd slate that eleven shillings were all that could b« got for withers weighing 80lb«. Ha tben read extracts from a circular issued by the Frizsn Meat Comp*uy in Melbourne showing th it the shipment by the Pfotos had >itldad a nit profit of £1000, and that the meat from Australia found far greater favor among the consumers at homo than that imported from Americ*, the quality beißg in evarv way infinitely superior. So thoroughly ws ired of Buccess were thosa who had embarked in the enterprise that from oue of the freezing works in Australia unorder hai recently been sent to England for five additional rmshinGi, wkich would enable the proprietors to deal wiih half a miliion sheep and 3000 head of cattle in the year. The Orient line of steamers wsre being fitted with freezing chambers, the P. and 0 Company were following in their wake, and the New Zealand Shipping Company were in a position to arrauga for dispatching two ships from Wellington fitted with the necessary apparatus if 400 tons of meat were guaranteed. It is not only for meat lhat a market would be opened up by the establishment of freezing works, but dairy produce would also be largely in demand, and remunerative prices for an article that is now almost valueless would be obtainable, and thu3 a fillip would be given not culy to stock raising, but to dairy farming, such as could not fail to produce a very beneficial effect upon the colony, which ! would Bhow itself not least in the encouragement that would be held out to settlers to go to work in a busioeßß like manner on their land, for, Baid Mr Buchanan, and with great truth, " it is always found that low prices and careless farming go together," The correctness of this assertion will, we think, j be allowed by our farmers in the Waimea and Motneka districts, who mast at times be thoroughly discouraged aud disgusted, not merely by the iow prices ruling, but by the almost impossibility of diaposiag of their stock, grain, or dairy produce at any price at all. Wiih how different & heart would thay go to work if they could depend with some degree of ctrtainty upon reaping something like a reasonable reward for th«ir labors. They have made « step in the right direction by commencing to export thair barley, and they may venture to hope that th* results of tea meat freezing operations in ether part* of the colony will be such aa to lead in the course of time to the establishment of similar works here, where ther« is amplt room for raising stock, and for largely increasing the produce of the dairies if only an outlet for j such produce is assured beyond all doubt or chance of failure. Ie is not likely that anything of the kind will be undertaken here yet, but it would be well for our farmers to keep it in view, and to watch closely the operations and their results in those districts whtr« the Meat Freezing Companies will be ia fall work before twelve months have passed away,