FROZEN MEAT SHIPMENTS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1069, 9 May 1882, Page 2

FROZEN MEAT SHIPMENTS.

(from the Australasian,) With regard to the last shipment frozen of mutton by the Protos, a portion o; which did not turn out satisfactorily, m have obtained some information of an explanatory character from Mr John Hostou secretary of the Australian Frozen Moat Export Company. The. shipment con sisted of 3140 carcases of splendid cross bread wethera, averaging about 751b each in weight, The wethers were slaughtered and frozen in the company's works al Maribyrnong.' This was done towards the , end of December when we had a tempera' lure of 140 deg in the sun. The heat ol , weather rendered it imperative that every . precaution should be taken in conveying , the carcases to the vessel. Tho work ol , loading the lighters was thorefore not , commenced until 7,30 in the evening, and i it was continued all night, The lighters were then taken down to the Protos in Hobson's Bay, but notwithstanding the efforts put forth to tranship the carcnaoa before the temperature rose again, it was nearly noon before the lighters had beer discharged, The consequence was that ths last two or three hundred carcases shipped were slightly soft when transferred to the freezing chamber of the Protos, All pre vious shipments of the company were made in cool weather. For some time back the directors have been endeavoring to obtain a site for their works neai the Williamstown breakwater, so that they -might be able to run their meal alongside the vessels in trucks during the night, and so do in one hour what at pre sent occupies 10. They have made applications to, and had interviews with, th< Minister of Lands, but the people ol Williamstown have stepped in to oppose the proposal on the ground that the slaugli tering would be a great nuisance in theii midst. The site applied for is at the corner of the old military reserve, aad about 300 yards from the breakwater, at which in the course of a few months, the Orient steamers will be berthed. Mr 'Madden has replied that as Parliament has forbidden any interferance with the reserves until after a discussion on the general vuestion as to their proposal, he cannot at present alienate any portion of the Williamstown reserve

There ia.not much news to add by this mail on the above subject, as no fresh shipments have come to hand since my last, The Protos is expected almost daily, and she is anxiously awaited by the Balesmen and consignees, as in the present very favorable state.of the mutton market, we

all liopo to find that H per lb will bo <&. tained. These calculations are, of course' based on the assumption that this ship.' ment from Melbourne will turn out os superior to the Orange Company's, as all -' previous cargoes from the Australian * Frozen Meat Company have done, The good carcases per Orient have during the past week averaged a good 6d; but unfortunately some very bad ones from the samo ship have been placed on the market' *' and theso have necessarily been sold at very low prices, and during one day no less than 100 carcases were absolutely condemned by the inspector as unfit lor food.

I have before commented on the utter folly of allowing carcases in this condition to enter the market at all, as even had they escaped the vigilance of the inspector and had been sold, they would wherever exnnsed for sale—or helped to extend a prejudice against the trade we aro all bo anxious to foster and extend. The carcases which were sold at low rates to which I have referred were not absolutely bad, but were much discolored, mildewed, and otherwise damaged. How it is that this, always seems to arise from some portions of the Orange Company's shipments is not quite clear.' It is generally thought that the fad of it having to be brought such a distance, to port is in a great measure the reason.

It is quite certain that never has any shipment of meat come to hand under such favorable auspioes as these last two shipments per Cuzco and Orient, |nith best Scotch at 9£d per lb by the carcase and that the general average realised has not been higher is soley due to what may be called minor faults, which, one is inclined to think, might have been easily avoided.

Thebiitter ex Orient is not yet all sold; Ihe price varies from 90s to 120s per cwt. There was a good demand for the best of it, but the inferior seems very difficufc of sale.

The numerous complaints from London regarding the condition in which frozen meat from New South Wales arrived in the English market, recently induced s. stockowuer of the North to bring the matter directly under the notice of tho Orange Slaughtering Company. The Sydney Morning Herald states that " in reply to the inquiry of the stockowher as to the cause, the secretary, Mr Graham, states that the butchering of the meat sent by the Cuzco was better than that ordinarily practised in '.his city, but ho admits that it is almost impossible to make thinsided merino carcases look as well as those of English sheep He writes-' English butchers learn in schools where appearance is much studied, while many of our butchers are not tradesmen. That the Cuzco sheep were (compared with other shipments from here) badly butchered is, however provod by tho concurrence of the reports and the New Zealand company's advices. I took charge in the middle of it, the affairs at the works having become disorganised, I had to dismiss one man at once for not being able to butcher a sheep decently, and I have since got rid of the foreman butcher who proved an unreliable man. Then again we had 1,500 old ewes, which no butcher can dress to look like a good fat wether. The board now proposes to import a foreman butcher from England—a wise course, I think. The complaints of want of uniformity of%e and weight -* appear to me absurd. Such uniformity is ' not found in English or any sheep. The fault seems to be with the salesman, who, if he sells large and small in one lot can- ' not expect as good a price. You might as well offer a mixture of your best combing and short clothing wool in the samo halo. Each will fetch its value separately, The thawing (partial) of some of the sheep is a true bill and arose from tho Railway department delivering some of tho meat as late as 11 a m. iustoad of 6 a.m. at Darling Harbour. The sending of old ewes and some small wethers was a matter of necessity, the company having no funds, and no squatters offering any hotter. The new company must buy, and have tinning or 6ome other meaus of working up inferior stock. They havo bought a hulk, and when that is fitted * up they will deliver all meat on board in the very best condition possible. The Cuzco shipment showed a clear profit on all the meat.