NEWS BY THE ZEALANDIA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 233, 26 February 1876, Page 20

NEWS BY THE ZEALANDIA.

♦ (prom the “argus” correspondent.) THE MEAT QUESTION. London, December 26. Now that Christmas is so close at hand, the meat question is begihning to excite an increased amount of interest. Prices are ranging so high that to some of the poorer classes they are becoming almost prohibitory, and indeed it is generally thought that we have not reached the maximum yet. We have been told that it is possible ere the winter is over, should it prove of that severity which has been predicted, we may have to pay 2s. per lb. for our beef and mutton. Many attribute the prevailing high price to the restrictions imposed upon the importation of foreign stock. Professor Gamgee, who read a paper before the Midland. Farmers’ Club a short time back, is of a different opinion. He thinks that if the importation of live stock were stopped altogether, we should not be an ounce the sufferers., at the end of several months, as the animals would be imported in the carcase instead. Even from long distances he has no doubt that meat can be brought over in a perfectly fresh state. Only this week, the Illinois brought over from Philadelphia about 30 dressed beeves, 150 sheep, and a quantity of poultry. They were placed in a tank in the lower hold, the meat in eight layers upon iron bars, to allow of the air having free access. A blower, run by a five-horse power engine, forced a constant current of air through the ice chests, which circulated through the compartment, and was thence drawn back through the blower, which kept the meat at a low temperature. The tank in which the meat was placed was capable of holding 75,0001 b. It all arrived in excellent condition. This, of course, is a very small instalment to meet our requirements, but still it shows that with proper appliances there should be no difficulty in conveying meat across the North Atlantic. The difficulty is with the tropics, and you may be assured that the result of Mr. Mort’s experiments will be looked for in England with the keenest anxiety. He deserves success for the many years of trouble that he has taken, and if he secures it, millions wiH thank him. A supply of uncooked meat is what we require. The preserved meat will never meet our wants ; the working classes will not use it, and it is never likely to come into general use. Apart from the fact that there is a prejudice against the article itself, which no amount of energy in pressing a sale seems likely to overcome, the contents of the tins are too unequal. Several may be bought, one may prove relishing, and the other the reverse, perhaps even require to be thrown away. Punch described the prevalent feeling some time back in the following lines, the dialogue being supposed to take place in the Civil Service stores : Australian beef has gone up, I’m sorry to see, Mrs. Brown. Alas ! my dear Mrs. Smith, With us it has never gone down ! Another joke on it is, that cooks generally serve up Australian mutton cold, because they say they don’t know how to eat it. There is no doubt that even in families where the tinned meats are appreciated, the servants turn up their noses at them. This, of course, is prejudice, but what can we do ? Servants here are more exacting even than in Australia, and have to be considered in every possible way, and the supply of “lady helps” is not likely to meet the demand. [/The followinginstance, published lately, of how the difficulty may occasionally be got over, is scarcely appropos of the meat question, but is of interest :—A lady who had had considerable trouble with nurses, and was constantly changing them, advertised for a “ young lady willing to undertake the charge of three children, and to help them in dressing, &c.; wages, £l2 a year.” She had no difficulty in getting suited, and the “ young lady’’.is. treated as one of the family, and mater-familias has no more trouble in the nursery. But revenons cl nos moutons, Mr. Riddle, C.E., writing a few days ago from the East India Association, states that Dr. Hardwicke, the coroner, and other gentlemen, including the council of the Society of Arts, are aware that he is prepared to bring to England 1000 tons of meat, in a single cargo, at 2d. per lb. We only wish he would do it ! Dr. Herzen, of Elorence, has recently invented a new method of preserving meat, which has these advantages. It is exported raw, without salting ; no tins or air-tight vessels are required. It is prepared for shipment at little or no expense. No skilled workmen are required, and in appearance it is like ordinary butchers’ meat. Operations are about to be commenced on the River Plate. Professor Mantegazza tasted some of the meat after it had been preserved for twelve months, and found it succulent and nutritious. Professor Crudell, of the Roman University, states that his cook mistook the Herzen beef for a piece of butcher’s meat from the Piazaa Navona. To show of what vital importance the foreign meat supply, is to us, it may be told that all classes of live stock have greatly diminished in England of late. The Board of Trade agricultural returns for 1875 give a decrease from 1874 of 112,886 cattle, or I'B per cent.; of 1,148,663 sheep, or 3'B per cent. ; and of pigs, 192,962, or 8 per cent. This return was made up to the 25th June last, when the foot and mouth disease had not made much havoc. Since then, as Land and Water observes, its ravages are in a proportionately worse condition now than then. THE DECEASED WIFE’S SISTER. The Hour is a paper, which, since it was first started, has ever evinced a marked interest in colonial topics, and cannot in .any way be said to favor a policy either of disintegration or. of lording it over the colonies. It was, therefore, with considerable surprise that “colonists in England” noticed a leader I in its columns a few days ago breathing a

▼ery different policy to that which we have hitherto credited it with. The article was drawn forth by a letter from the secretary to the society for obtaining the passing of a law enabling a man to marry his deceased wife’s sister, in which he pointed out that the Queen’s assent had just been given to an act for that purpose, passed in New South Wales, and remarking that doubtless one passed in Queensland would meet with the same approval. The Hour blames Mr. Gladstone for having set the example of giving assent to. colonial Bills of this character, and regrets that a Conservative Ministry has deemed it necessary or politic to follow the Liberal precedent. The article acknowledges that the same law obtains in Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania ; but nevertheless considers it very undesirable that “ what is illegal in England should be locally valid at the antipodes. The Imperial law should be the standard, and colonial exceptions shouM not be fostered or even tolerated.” This is rather strong, and savors somewhat of dictation, and in his wrath the writer has forgotten that the colonies are no longer in leading strings, that they have set many examples to England, which she has been glad to follow, as Sir Charles Bowen well pointed out at his banquet, viz., from vote by ballot to hanging inside gaols. Probably England will after a time follow this example also, notwitstanding the opposition of the House of Lords. The Hour, however, wishes “ that a competent lawyer would answer these two questions. What would be the status of a man and woman married under the new laws in Australia, supposing they were afterwards to establish themselves in the United Kingdom ? Again, could enthusiasts for marriage with their deceased wife’s sisters fly to the antipodes and get validly married there by the lex loci, or would they have first to acquire an Australian domicile ? As things stand, in addition to these uncertainties, the Queen’s Australian subjects are in a more favored position than inhabitants of the United Kingdom.” After some further lamentation on the unfortunate concessions to colonial feelings, the article proceeds to say, “We are afraid that it is too late to undo this evil work in Australia, but we earnestly trust that the Queen’s advisers will reflect again on this subject, and that the Australian Bills will be treated at Home as measures not to be copied but to be avoided. . . . We cannot congratulate the Australians on their last legislative boon, and we hope that if sisters-in-law are abolished at the antipodes those ladies will long be allowed to flourish peaceably in the United Kingdom.” It is to be hoped that the Hour has taken an exceptional course in this matter, and having vented its sensitiveness on this point of marriage reform, will henceforth revert to its wonted kindly colonial feeling. FUNERAL REFORM. It may seem rather late in the day to refer to anything that took place at the Church (Congress held some weeks back, but a late event has given prominence to the subject of Funeral Reform. For some months allusions have occasionally been made to what is doing in Australia in this respect, in a very commendatory spirit. At the Church Congress, the Rev. Dr. Collis read a very able paper on “ Funeral Reform and Memorials of the Dead,” in which he strongly advocated the' abolition of scarf, hatbands, unnecessary presents of gloves and silk, and the nonwearing of crape ; and suggested that the friends of the deceased should meet at the entrance of the church instead of at the house, and thus avoid the unseemly feasting that often disgraced such occasions. A number of clergymen, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Mr. Reresford Hope, M.P., and others, took part in the discussion that ensued, and all the speakers supported Dr. Collis’s views. In many places the clergy have pledged themselves to refuse the customary presents of scarfs, hatbands, and gloves. At diocesan conferences the feeling has also been warmly evinced in favor of such a pi’actice, and for reducing the expenditure at a funeral to a ■minimum consistent with paying proper respect to the departed. The event' that I referred to at the outset, as having given particular prominence to this matter just now, is in connection with the funeral of Mrs. Childers, which took place in Norton Church, near Worcester, last week. Owing to the deep snow then lying on the ground, a funeral cortege consisting of the hearse and a number of mourning coaches was necessary, but otherwise, in accordance with the express wish of Mr. Childei's, the ceremony was plainly conducted, there being no hatbands, scarfs, plumes, or the usual insignia of grief, but each one there was presented with a pray er-book. A good example has thus been set, which others no doubt will gladly follow, and thus the cause of this much required reform is advanced.