A MUTTON CAKGO.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1313, 3 April 1883, Page 3

A MUTTON CAKGO.

(London Daily News, February 9th.) The meat supply of the' metropolis was added to yesterday by 583 carcasses ; ■ of sheep from New Zealand. The consignment was tho chiof portion of the .; cargo of the good steamship Sorrento, chartered by tho Australian Company (Limited), of which Alderman Cotton is chairman, and Mr John Stevens manager. The vessel arrived in dock . on Wednesday, but by the strenuous . efforts and working double tides the Company were able to place some 250 v. carcasses in the Metropolitan. Meat ''' Market in the small hours of yesterday morning, : . The average rate at which this mutton was purchased by tho butchers was 7f per lb. The retail dealers were taken at once with the appearance of the meat, and no doubt . Way and to-morrow it will be purveyed here and there at English—i.e. monstrously high prices. The general consumer is not likely therefore to benefit in tho slightest degree by this ■welcome shipment, but he will gain indirectly, since every successful arrival of frozen meat from the Antipodes brings nearer the day when ho will be able to purchase it direct, and free from ■ the intervention of the übiquitous •' ' middleman. The arrival of the Sor- ' rento is deserving just now of special mention, because she brings the largest • ' quantity of meat yet received by one > Bhip from Australia, because it is of exceptionally prime quality, and be- , \ cause it is in most perfect condition, Many of our readers are probably aware that the sheep which produce the finest wool are not worth much as ■ •mutton, and "the trade" will not have forgotten the adverse criticisms • passed upon a consignment of New South Wales merinos, which weighed rirf more than 501b pel' bony ... ! • brouJH^;-^ ow Zealand are cross- '• of about 600 pure SontM6wns. It is all three-year-old mutton, and the weight per carcass is the excellent average of 731b. The mutton as it came out of the ships hold, dry, hard-frozen, clean, composed of proper proportions of fat and lean, and with the bloom still fresh upon the red skin, looked magnificent. Hung at Smithfield, it resembled at a few . paces distant, the primest meat in the market, and some carcasses were ■ bought even by West-End tradesmen, who have hitherto treated all frozen meat with contempt. The New Zealand shippers deserve credit for the manner in which they put the meat on board, The defective cargoes of the past have ■ been due chiefly to stupid handling during the preparatory processes. In the present instance the Refrigerating Company near Dunedin conveyed their cargo to Port Chalmers in the precise condition in which it should be trans- : ferred to the freezing chambers of the ship, using air-tight railway-trucks for the short journey of eight or nine , miles. New Zealand, it may be stated, is taking a leading position in this business, and a regular monthly line is projected. Each sheep is, as usual, wrapped in white calico or canvas. : The freezing machinery on board the . Sorrento was supplied by Hick, Hargreaves, and Co., of Bolton, and, with the exception of a few days in the tropics, when a duplicate was used, one engine proved sufficient to keep the " chambers down to 15deg, Fall. The . dry-air system was used. By it the air is pumped in as dry as can be, and any moisture which remains is deposi- ,. ted in the shapo of snow before entering the chamber, and the snowbox (which may contain perhaps 12 bucketsfnl per diem in tropical latitudes, is swept out every 24 hours. The spacious refrigerating chambers -■are insulated by walls 12 inches thick, more than half the thickness being charcoal,' The freezing, in the case of the; Sorrento, wasso perfect, that the cargo reached the Thames a solidly- . frozen block, and tho carcasses came ■i oat yesterday for the most part without a sign of frost upon them, > '• The arrangements on this side of the world for the reception of frozen meat T.ara now much more perfect than they were at first! In the earlier days of , i; the experiment the importers suffered .from the necessity of placing the entire cargo upon the market at once, and it was simultaneously found that it would never; do to take the unsold meat back to the dep6t again. The butchers for a short period naturally scored all their tricks. The importers' extremity was ' their opportunity. But things are now changed. The dock company have -fittedupanold'Falkland Islands trader : , .as a freezing hulk, and in the three kulated compartments of the hold the ' meat can be kept frozen for an indefi- • nito time. The splendid cargo now received, instead, therefore, of being sent , to Smithfield in bulk at the chance of . sacrifice, will feed the market according to circumstances, and will probably not he wholly disposed of for three or four weeks, The meat is conveyed from the docks at midnight in specially fitted carts, so as to ensure rapid transit, the most favorable temperature, ancHhe shortest, possible interval between hulk and) market, The Now Zealand miittctfsold yesterday at 7fd per lb, wis, acf rding to the Colonial papers, Sold to/the shippers at Dunedin ;at 2|d pern—the highest price, we -believe, yet paid to the Colonial seller. Considering tho risk and the heavy cost attending the conveyance of frozen meat to England the margin of profit here giyen is not large. The mere ' fitting.lip. of a ship like the Sorrento nearly £IO,OOO, and the character of the fittings requires that at least one-third of the space occupied by the charterers shall be what is technically termed " dead space."

• The London World says of Oacar Wilde"Ho goes back to America in the fall, then to Australia) and ultimately to Heaven, The lavish adornments of the latter place will perhaps strike Oacar bb inartistic and in bad taste, One day lately, a little girl found a number of silver and popper coins to the value of LI 14s in a hole in the township of Napier. The coin bear dates from 1824 to 1834, and it is supposed that they were "planted" by soldiers who were camped there many years ago, The Thames Star has been testing diamonds on its oivn account, and finds some specimens submitted to them to be wanting, "Upon being subjected to a Strong solution of nascent hydrofluoric ncid four of the atones entirely vanished, and the fifth after being submitted to carbonate of soda test, assumed the appearance of quartz. The Auckland Evening Star says "Circus performances appear to draw remarkably well in Auckland, and this fact is now proved by the Iloyal Australian Circus troupe at present performing in the Market reserve, Thoy opened on Saturday night to a house, and last evening, notwithstanding the counter attractions, the attendance represented about £9O. Ftayne, who recently slew an actress on the when attempting a William Tell feat in "Si Slocum,"is now advertised in America as" tho noted actor who acoidently shot and killed Mißs Annie von Dermon, to whom he was engaged to be married, at Cinoinuati, on Thanksgiving Night,', Miss Sarah,Apted, a nativo of Iteigato, and now living at Fern Villia, Garlands road, Bedhill, roached the age of 100 years on December 2. The entry of her birth and baptism is in tho Reigate Parish Church registar.