COLONIAL FROZEN MEAT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 312, 27 May 1911, Page 4

COLONIAL FROZEN MEAT

MR. KIDMAN'S OBSERVATIONS. A After a thirteen mouths' tour of inquiry in connection with the meat export trade in Canada, the United States, England and Continental Europe, Mr. Arthur Kidman lias just returned to Sydney imbued with the conviction that the grazing interests of Australia have excellent prospects before them. At tha same time he js not sanguine of new markets of any great extent outside of Great britain being opened up to the exporters of Australasia in the near future.

As aji exporter of meat and other frozen produce, the primary object of Mr. Kidman's trip (says the' Sydney Daily Telegraph) was to push business and to pave the way for trade with new markets if possible.

After touring Canada, Mr. Kidman

went on to Chicago. Although he sees no immediate likelihood of the American markets being made available to Australia, Mr. Kidman looks upon the prospects generally of the business developing in 'the course of tinie as decidedly satisfactory, as prices are much higher in Canada, and the United States than they, are here, and : the pepple want cheaper foods. Going on to London. Mr. Kidman spent some time in visiting leading centres in England and investigating the conditions surrounding the meat trade. He thinks there is certainly plenty of room for improvement in regard to the delivery of the meat from the ships and in the handling of it until it reaches the market. "Nevertheless," he said, "their conditions in this respect are better than ours on this side. In Liverpool, for instance, the meat, is always exclusively carried in insulated wagons from the ship to the freezing stores. This means an improvement in the appearance of the stuff, and J should very much like to see the same system adopted here. It would enhance the appearance and condition of the meat on arrival in England; provided, of course, the shipping companies did their part." In London, too, meat is carted from the docks to Smithlicld in insulated vans.

Trade in England in Australian meat has been on the increase. Mr. Kidman's conviction is that the business both in mutton and beef will go on expanding. He has not the slightest doubt about it. The meat, besides commanding a greater sale in the. big centres of population, is' finding its way into outlying districts. While these latter buy in a small way as yet, the avenues for distributing the meat are all the time widening, and are likely to continue to do so.

Mr. Kidman visited the chief cities of France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and he is not at all hopeful of Australia getting a footing for some time to come. ''The people on the Continent want our meat," he said. "They want it badly, and are really clamoring for it, but the agrarian interests are against it, and their political representatives are putting up a pretty strong opposition. But it is only a question of time when we will get into one of the centres near England, say in France, and then, once the barrier is broken down, in my opinion, all the markets will be opened to us, That will be of immense importance to Australia." Mr. Kidman is no.t inclined to attach much importance to the fact that small shipments of Australian mutton have this year been admitted to Switzerland. He regards it more or less as a political move to please the people for the time being, and that it cannot lie taken as an indication that their markets are to be thrown open to Australia. ''But," he emphasised, "it mast come; the people will have cheaper meat." In France, he said, where the tariff and the conditions regarding slaughtering are absolutely prohibitive, decent mutton cannot be obtained for household purposes under Is a lb, and even inferior quality sells at about lOd. Australian best grades of frozen meat he regarded as equal to anything the general puhlic could get in France.