THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1296, 6 February 1883, Page 2

THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE.

The following letter has been published in a Bniit hern contemporary, and ia of inierea!; lo graziers in this district Edinburgh, 10th Novomber, 1882. Win. Cunningham Smith, Esq., The N.Z Befricerating Company , (Limited), Dunedin, Denr Sir,-I write you respecting.some points in coniieotioii with the frozen meat trade which, I think, requires consideration by the directors of.your Company, and perhaps you will kindly lay this letter before: them. My desire to asEist the development of. the trade, and my speoial opportunities for seeing the working of the business at Home, are my only excuses for thrusting mv ideas upon your Company. When a cargo of frozen meat is sent by a number of different consignees it would be a 12re.1t advantage to arrange that the disposal of the meat in this country be left to one management, as unless this is done full prices cannot be obtained, The Smithfield. dead-meat '. market, ■ where nearly allof thefroze/i meat is cold, ■; is very sensitive; and if anything occurs j to upset the balance of supply and demand ' ■ i the effect is at once felt, Suppoaing a - - I vessel comes into London with 6000 or . ) 8000 sheep, eousigubd to 10 or 12 different .? i agents, all olf whom hold distinct bill) of j lading and are free to deal with their .' ccinsigbments as they please; The first thing these agents do is to go to Smithfield and inquire independently as to the state of the meat trade, and they ascertain, that . such and such a day will probably be good ones on which to offer a portion of: their shipments, and each there and then determines to aot accordingly. The consequence is that on those days which should be specially favorable for selling, , tho market is probably found glutted with'' supplies far in.exce<s of the demand for frozen meat, and talesmen are compelled to accept greatly reduced prices in order to get quit of their lots. It is quite otherwise when the manner and time of selling a cargo of meat is under one control, as no collision of interests oan then, occur. The perion in I charge carefully watches the apparent supplies coming forward to the market, and while oh some days he may put none up for sale, he will have perhaps 600 . carcasses on other days, and up to 1000 on others. . . .

Again, it will often happen that, even though the cargo is under one management here, one shipper will receive mori per pound for his meat than bis neighbor doeß, who may at the same time have sent equally good mutton.! The reason is that Hie carcasses must be sent to market ,in the order in which they come to hand when the freezing chambers are unpacked and A may have his whole parcel sold in a week when there is a brisk demand, while B may be unfortunate enough to have his equally good sheep disposed of in a dull trade, with a return of perhaps Jd per lb. loss.

I think the fairest way to overcome this difficulty would he to deal with cargoes of meat much' in the same way as Americans handle their wheat for export, —viz: Require each shipper to have his consignment weighed, passed, andbranded as first, second, or third quality meat, atd let the whole be sold,on arrival at Home as belonging to one individual. Each • shipper of first qualUymeat woujd then receive hiß proporalp of the amount realised for meat of that quality, and skippers of other qualities would likewise .receive their proportions. ' Such a plan - would ensure a fair average price being got for each consignment, and no one would be a special loser either through being unfortunate in his times of selling or perhaps by having some of hiß sheep damaged on the voyage. If shippers decline to work on such a combined arrangement, another plan to ensure a fair average price being got for each shipment . is to mix up the different brands of sheep as much as possible in stoning the.chambers, aiid< then a, varied lot conies to hand in every delivery to the market and no one consignment can form the whole of one day'i tale, In the event of requiring to store l meat 1 ■ after the ship.requires to be emptied here, it is only fair that the expense ofsuoh storage should be charged against the whole of tha shippers. This is right, because those who havo previously sold their meat can scarcely olaim to be then rendered, free from the Cost of storage 1 simply because they happened to have had'their meat so stowed in the chambers that it came to hand and ' was sold daring the period allowed by the ship for qnlotding. / I take the'opportunity of giving you. . these hints, as I fancy your Refrigerating- }:' Company may-have to load shipi times on account of a number of different owners. - ■ ■■ - : .r •■/v;

No fewer that 40 scientific mission! were deputed by diff«ront- cuunttiri 'to' obiefW'flie transit of, Venus, Eleven ci these missions wore English, France sent eight, Brazil five, Gecmany foul*, uml Italy also four, In regard to the parliamentary oaths question, the Spanish Government propose to admit either an oath or affirmation on condition of'a promise of fidelity to Alfonso. The words" legitimate King of Spain "'are to bo omit'ed. The Porte has organised n correspondence bureau to supply information to foreign correspon Units. Should anything false be written, the correspondent for the fiist offence, will bo warned, for the second published, for the third expelled from the country,