The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1889. Meat Preservation.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3190, 27 April 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1889. Meat Preservation.

Two now proeesses of preserving meat and other perishablo articles have lately been brought under notice at Home, and it is highly probable that ona or the other will ere long entirely displace the present mode of preservation by an expensive freezing process. One of them is thus noticed in the Fnanoial World The freezing process has done much in regard to meat, but tlio freezing process has its drawbacks, arid besides being expensive, is liable at times to failuro. Honcoa pre-

servative system which is rapid, cheap, and effectual would be a boon to mankind, the value of which could not be over-estimated. These qualities are claimed by the patentees of a new invention for their process, and, so far as we qould judge from our inspection of what has been done, their claims are well founded. On the occassion of our visit to the temporary 6how rooms in Queen Victoria street, wa found a most varied selection of perishablo articles, all of which had been treated by tho process, and all as fresh and sweet as they could possibly An enumeration of some of these articles will speak 'for..itself. Wo saw canvass-back dueks which had beon killed four months ago, a fat gooßs twenty-one days previously a loin of pork which had been honing for nineteen days, eggs still fresh, though kept for periods varying from twenty-one days to ten months, and eels, whiting, and bolob preserved a fortnight ago. Oysters, though opened twelve days, retained all their flavor; a pineapple, one of the most unstable of fruits,had its perfume, and showed no sign oi rottenness, yet its purchaso took place more than a fortnight ago, while a ham whioh had arrived in a process of decomposition, as certified by the curers, was a testimony to tho antiseptic qualities of the preservative, since the decomposition was arrested, and tho meat smelt perfectly sound and good. The process is not merely confined to solids; we saw milk which had been.kept nineteen days, and whioh gave a cream alter being agitated,.showing that .its properties and constituents remained unaltered,

(The articles treated are said to remain almost unaltered to the eye, and to require no special care; nor is the preservative destroyed by cooking,. The process itself is said to consist in the expulsion of air from the article to bo preserved, and tlie absorption of the fumes from a yellow, tasteless powder, the component parts of which have not as yet been divulged. Themachinery used appears to be of a simple and inexpensive character, and the articlo treated can bo packed away as ordinary merchandise, no special 'chamber being required, The whole process seems very promising indeed. The oply ppint which is left open to doubt is whether meat which has been preserved under it will not require to be frequently moistened with water, •

The second process which we alluded to ebove differs from the ordinary one of . freezing in so far only that the sanu end is attained by entirely different means. TJje Pall Mall Budget gives a brief description of the process, from which it appears that the reduotion of temperature is obtained by the action of heat on liquid ammonia contained in hermetically sealed tubes. The artipko pperated upon do not :ome jbto contact yitji tjjese tubes, but are eijnply frozen in apbamber, ap under the ordinary refrigerating systew, ft is 'jplaiined 'that by .its Diep mercury can bp frpje/j without

difficulty, iind that, by. way of experiment, an ordinary room has been kept a temperature of twenty-two period of six months.Thwe is little risk oi loss through macliinery breaking down, and there is very, little machinery required, what, there is, be(ngof the most simple character. The inventor has given the very appropriate name of" Arktos" to the process. Theße ,two inventions certainly make it appear as if the meat trade between the colonies'and Great Britain were on tho eve of a revolution, for both of them' appear to be immeasurably superior to the ordinary mode of preserving. They will enable a ship to carry more cargo, as less coal would be required; in fa'ot, the first named process would entirely dispense with' the freezing chamber, We shall look for the further development of these processes with not a little interest,'