MEAT FREEZING.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1037, 21 May 1883, Page 2

MEAT FREEZING.

In urging the settlers to enter warmly into the scheme for the freezing and export of fresh meat, the Waikato Times says : —“ The success or non-success of meat freezing must be the test of the possibility of making farming pay in the. North Island. With labour at its°present price, the country cannot be reclaimed at a profit so long as beef remains at 16s to 20s a hundred, and mutton realises only 2£d per lb. Even on the richest pastures the present rate does not make the raising of stock remunerative. The “country” won’t do.it, and we should not blink the fact. But if thesettlers can secure a certain market at Home prices—plus cost of freezing and freight —a market which is practically unlimited, and subjected,to little or no fluctuation, their incomes are at once doubled. Sheep and cattle farming passes out of the region of unprofitable speculation, and the future of the out-districts becomes assured. The notice, therefore, which has been issued by the promoters of the “ Northern Meat Freezing and Storage Company ” should command the most earnest attention of the Waikato settlers. It will never do to permit the whole conduct of this important work to fall into the hands of a knot of commercial speculators in Auckland. The interests of the producers must be protected as well as those of the exporters and commission agents.”