THE ICE SUPPLY OF LONDON.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5209, 1 December 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE ICE SUPPLY OF LONDON.

(From the Globe.) It seems an anomaly, but such is the case, that ice for domestic consumption is positively cheaper at Lucknow and Calcutta than Jn London. It is difficult tr realise such a state of things, but it happens to be an h'storicnl fact. Why a luxury which, during a brief period of the year, rises almost to the dignity of a necessary of life, should be sold in parts of India at three Half-pence per pound, while the retail price in London is twopence, is due almost exclusively to lack of native enterprise. Instead of making our ice at home at a cost of about 12s. or 15s. per ton, so that it could be retailed at a penny a pound, and still leave a very large profit, we draw almost the whole of our supply from foreign countries. The cost of carriage and the waste incidental to bringing ice from the United States, or even from Norway and Sweden, add of course materially to the first charge. But were we to do in Loudon, or, better still, in the Midland counties, where coal is cheap, what our AngloIndian friends do in Bombay and Colombo, we should have the price of ice reduced to the minimum, and we should be able to economise tho consumption of tood to an enormous extent. It is almost a reproach that the manufacture of ice should be carried out on a large and profitable scale even in our Australian colonies, while no effort worthy of the name has been mada to secure a similar result at Home. The last dividend declared by the Victoria Ice Company was at the rate ot 33 per cent, per annum, while the Colombo Company is actually paying 40 per cent. If such results can be accomplished with machinery more or less imperfect, and with native labor, it seems hard that in a country where mechanical art is actually unsurpassed, and the supply of coal, water, and labor are unlimited, we should have to pay the foreigner excessive rates for what we ought to be able to produce ourselves for very little. Importers ot ice in India have occasionally made very large profits, as the price has in some instances risen from £l4 per ton to £4O, and even £SO a ton. No such fluctuations could, however, occur in England, as it is estimated that almost any quantity may be produced and sold at a fair profit at about £5 per ton. The British public, nevertheless, have to pay £lB 13s. 4d. per ton, so that somebody must get an inordinate quantity of plums out of the cake.