MEAT FOR INDIA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 90, 15 April 1912, Page 2

MEAT FOR INDIA.

POSSIBILITY OF IMPORTANT MARKET.

K seems'likisly that British India hill become a. jajrgo and important market for the meat trade. A petition, signed by over one million and a half of the people, was presented to His Majesty the King while on Jiis recent tour there, requesting that the British soldiers should not he supplied with beef In the slaughter of the cattle of the country but that Australian beef shook be imported for them; and it appears that this request had nothing to do with the supposed sacredness of the bull and cow, which years ago, had such a 'Strong hold upon the religious sentiment of the people, but rests almost entirely upon economic grounds. One tirno, it is well known, the bull was supposed to represent Siva, one of their divinities, and was not allowed to be destroyed; the cow war also regarded with great veneration, and to kill it wart an unpardonable offence. The rock from which the Ganges takes its rise was supposed to be a petrified cow and a sacred emblem, and the orifice from which the water flowed was called “the cow’s mouth.” But it may have been the superstitious reverence for these animals arose from their usefulness, flu strength of the bull rendering service in the field, and the milk of the cow supplying food, enabling priestcraft to surround them with a divine homage. Utility may have been one basis of animal worship, so common among the Eastern nations; but this superstition has largely passed away. Now the appeal is made against the slaughter of the Indian cows because their destruction for the sake o! supplying the British army with beef is lessoning the quantity of milk oh tained, which is a staple food of tin manses of the people, and interfering with the general propagation of stock, besides seriously increasing the price of cattle. For it is the cow that is generally killed for meat, as the bull is used not only for breeding purposes, but is outplayed upon the land, taking the place of the horse and mule in other lands, and is worked there until it is ton old for profit in the slaughterhouse. It is said that 150,000 cows are annually required to feed the soldiers, hoside what is needed for other sections of the British residents and for meat-eaters in the community. This certainly must he a serious drain upfm the cattle resources of the country, and with the diminution of the religious sentiment, which has surrounded the cattle with preservative restrictions, there is an increase of meat-eating among the Indian populations. The Mohammedans, who arc very numerous, have not shared with the Hindoos the prejudice against meat, and eat it freely, and with the gradu-

al spread of the custom among the people it is evident that- an extensive market may be anticipated. The British Government will probably, as requested, import Australian meat for the army, and with skilful manipulation in the seizing of the opportunities for the trade likely to arise with the Indian ports large orders may he obtained and executed. The Australian cattle are much superior to the Indian, both- in size and the quality of the meat they give. Some found wild, like the Ganjal and tiic Arneo which have their habitat at the base of the Himalaya mountains, are fine specimens of cattle, but the general breeds cultivated are not of high quality, and the import of preserved meat from Australia will be welcomed. Queensland, as the largest cattle country in the Commonwealth, is peculiarly interested in this probable opening of the Indian market, and its stock owners and shippers may here find scope for a new and profitable enterprise.