EXPORTATION OF SALT BEEF FROM NEW COUTH WALES.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 45, 14 January 1843, Page 179

EXPORTATION OF SALT BEEF FROM NEW COUTH WALES.

The Sydney Herald, in some of its recent numbers, has been calling the attention of its readers to the fact that beef can be cured in Australia and sold in the English market at a large remunerating profit. As the subject is one which hereafter must be of equal import* ance to the New Zealand settlements, we consider that some information on the subject may not be unacceptable. The Herald says — " In the course of the elaborate debates in the House of Commons in May last, on the subject of the tariff, a great deal was said respecting the prices of animal food, principally of beef and pork. During the previous six or seven years, the prices had risen so considerably in England and Ireland that Ministers had deemed it necessary, in framing the new tariff, to relax what is called the ' protection ' duty on foreign meats, with a view to the admission of supplies from those parts of Europe where cattle where comparatively cheap. The cause of the advance in price seems to have been admitted on both sides of the house to lie in the increased consumption incident to the prodigious increase of population. It was estimated that the reduced rates of duty would occasion the importation, from the continent, of about 80,000 head of horned cattle ; but even this was considered by Mr. Gladstone, the Vice-President of the Board of Trade, as unequal to the growth of consumption. ' Assuming the estimate to be a fair one/ said the honourable member, < would that more than provide for the increased wants of a rapidly-increasing population ? Assuming, for argument's sake, that the annual consumption of flesh meat was 501bs. per head for each individual, and that one-half, or 251b5., of that consumption was beef, the increase of population in this country for the last ten years was estimated at 227,000 per annum ; and if it went on for the next five years increasing in the same ratio as it did during the last ten, then, as a matter of arithmetic, to keep the price of meat down to its present standard, and to afford the sa-ne amount of animal food to the population of this country, we should require an additional amount of 85,000 head of horned cattle. The 1,600,000 head which the British producers at present supplied would be utterly inadequate to the purpose. The price of meat could not at all be kept down to the present standard, and he had heard no argument to show how the wants of the increase which five or six years would make in our population were to be supplied/ " It is evident from this that, even with the new competition of the continental graziers, Ministers did not anticipate a reduction of price, believing that the growth of population would outstrip all the known resources for the supply of animal food. We may therefore reasonably assume the present price to be the standard for some years to come, and refer to it as the datum of our calculations in reference to the export of Australian beef. What that price is we can show on the very best authority." The Herald then gives some extracts from a speech made by Sir Robert Peel on the passing of the tariff, which shows that the price of meat for the Navy contracts has steadily increased since 1835, at which time it was 355. per cwt, while in 1841 it was 49a. The contract price for Greenwich Hospital during the same period had advanced {gam 40s. to 565., and in Leadenhall market, for shipping, from 365. to 48s. per cnt. "The lost contract price for navy beef was £7 Ss. 4d. per tierce, or £2 Bs. sid. per cwt, being rather more than sd. per lb. " Now, let us see at what price the British market could be supplied with Australian beef. " Compared with the prices at this time realized by the grazier, 24<J. per lb., or J67 per head for fat cattle of 6 cwt., would be liberal and fully remunerating. We shall therefore assume that the oxen ore delivered in Sydney at this price, and then the cost of cure and exportation, according to calculations made by practical men, will be about as follows : — £ $. d. Ox of 6 cwt, at 24d. per lb. . .700 Slaughtering and salting . . . 013 6 Storage 0 3 4 Incidental expenses ... . .016 7 18 4 Less value of offal :— £ «. d. Hide . . . .090 501ns. fat, at 4d. . . 0 16 8 4 shins, lOlbs. each . .020 Horns, hoofs, oil, and glue 0 2 0 1 9 8 Total cost per beast . . . .688 This would fill two tierces : therefore, each tierce of beef would cost . .344 Add — Barrel and Cooperage . . 0 11 6 Freight to London (dead weight), at £2 per ton 0 6 0 Duty on Importation into England, 2s. per cwt . . • . . .060 Cost price delivered in London, p' tierce 4 7 10 Navy contract price . . . .754 Australian cost price, a* above . . 4 710 Profit . . . . . . 2 17 6 "We gather from the Parliamentary debate above referred to, that the most formidable competition with the British article would be the beef from Hamburg, which, could be supplied, including freight, duty, and all other charges, at £i I2j. per tierce. It would tan* appear that w« could advantageously compete even with the cheapest producers in Europe : thus—- £ s. d. Hamburg Beef, per tierce . . . 5 12 0 Australian Beef, per tierce . . . 4 7 10 In favour of Australia . . . .14 2 " It is estimated that we could, with the greatest ease, supply for exportation 24,000 head of cattle per annum, which, at the above prices, would give an export of about £150,000. " This would be an immense fwHitio" to our re-

sources, and *an invaluable relief to our graziers and merchants." On a subsequent day our contemporary returns to the subject for the purpose of showing the practicability of beef being cured in Australia in an efficient manner, for on that, as he justly remarks, everything must depend : — " In our former article we adduced facts which proved that England offers, and is likely to, offer for years to come, a profitable market for all the salt beef we can send to it, provided the meat be good and durable. It is quite possible that some of the details of our calculations may have been chargeable with error; but that they were substantially correct, and that the ascertained profits would be sufficiently large to admit of considerable abatement for incidental mistakes, we feel quite confident The mere fact that in England the price of beef is more than five times higher than the price at which it is now selling by our graziers, and that her Majesty's ministers have declared in Parliament that there is no prospect of its being reduced, but rather of its getting still higher, puts it beyond all doubt that, with judicious management, we may establish a trade whick will dispose profitably of all our surplus cattle, encourage commerce, and go far towards reviving the general affairs of the colony. " But, it may be asked, is it in our power to cure beef well enough for so distant a market as England ? The best way of answering this ques* tionis to refer to what has been actually done. " Twelve years ago, when cattle were as much depreciated as they are now, if not more so, verjr great attention was bestowed on the subject of salting and exporting beef; and to such an extent was this business then carried on, that in about a couple of years stock was restored to its fair value. On looking over a file of the Sydney Gazette of that day, we have met with a few pertinent paragraphs, which it may be encouraging now to quote." Several extracts are then given, many being from official documents, which show that beef cured in New South Wales, whether for homo consumption, or shipped to the Isle of France, or India, has been proved to be equal to English cured meat, and, if Liverpool salt is used, decidedly superior. " A more recent instance of successful salting 1 has just now come to our knowledge. Fifty tons of beef were salted last year for the Government contracts, the salt used for curing being Liverpool, and for packing, Liverpool and rock salt mixed, the latter being first pounded. This mixture was resorted to as a substitute for St. Übe's, which was not at that time to be had in the colony. Of the whole quantity of beef so cured, the Board of Survey, at the end of twelve months, found only - one cask objectionable, not from being badly cured, but for being bony and inferior meat. "We may therefore regard it as a well established point, that we can produce salt beef of first-rate quality, and fit for exportation to any pat tof the world. It remains to be considered how this may he done, on a large scale, in the moat economical and effectual manner."

When the Pensionary De Witt was asked how he contrived to transact so much business of various kinds, in the course of a day, he answered, " By making it a rule always to attend to one thing at a time." Confidknck or Couragb is conscious ability — the sense of power. No man is ever afraid of attempting what he knows he can do better than any one else. Charles Fox felt no diffidence in addressing the House of Commons: he was reserved and silent in company, and had no opinion of his talents for writing; that is, he knew hi» powers and their limits. The torrent of his eloquence rushed upon him from his knowledge of the subject and his interest in it, unchecked and unbidden, without his once thinking of himself or his hearers. As a man is strong, so is he bold. The thing is, that, wherever we feel at home, there we are at our ease. The late Sir John Moore once had to review the troops at Plymouth before the King ; and while he was on the ground and had to converse with the different persons of the court, with the ladies and with Mr. Pitt, whom he thought a great- man, he found himself a good deal embarrassed ; but the instant he mouuted his horse, and the troops were put in motion, he felt quite relieved, and had leisure to observe what an awkward figure Mr. Pitt made <m horseback. — HazUtt. | To make Hbnß lay p'krp«tually.— I never allow cocks to run with my hens, except when I want to raise chickens. Hens will lay eggs perpetually, if treated in the following manner: — • * Keep no roosters; give the hens fresh meat, chopped fine like sausage meat, once a day, a very small portion, say half an ounce a day to each hen during winter, or from the time insects disappear in the fall till they appear in the spring. Never allow any eggs to remain in the nest, nor what are called nest eggs. When the rooster* do not run with the hens,, and no nest egg* are left in the nest, the hens will not cease laying after the production of twelve or fifteen eggs, a* they always do when roosters and nest eggs arc. allowed, bat continue laying perpetually. My hens always lay all winter, and each from seventyfive to one hundred, eggs in succession. There being nothing to excite the animal passions, they never attempt to sit If the above plan were generally followed, eggs would be just as plenty in winter as in summer. The only reason whf hens do not lay in winter as freely as in summer is the want of animal food, which they get in sumafcrr in abundance, in the form of insects. The. 'gjttson they stop laying and go to sitting, after laying a brood of eggs, is .the continual excUemeat of the animal passions by the males. I have, for several winters, reduced my theory to practice, and proved its entire correctness. It must be observed, that the presence of the male is qpt necessary for the production of eggs, as they are formed whether the male be present or not. Of course, such eggs will not produce chickens. When chickens are wanted, the roosters must, of course, run with the hens. — Corretpomdmt tf'th* Albany CuUmator. ' ' [. Most fools, and many sensible people, areicotu . ceited; but people of the best sense sever fete «fc « —Anmatromg. . . V, "\ t - _-