THE DEAD MEAT TRADE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2224, 9 October 1886, Page 2

THE DEAD MEAT TRADE.

The Mayor of Hamilton has received the following letter from Mr Joseph Gane, of Pukerimu :—: — Dear Sir, —l bep to acknowledge tho receipt of your circular letter re abattoirs at Hamilton, and would gladly have been at your meeting if pressure of business at thi* season had not prevented. I may say, however, that I fully concur in the desirability — not to say even the necessity of slaughter-yards for Waikato— ho that carcases of meat instead of the living animal may be Hent to Auckland. I do not suppose, however, that these yards would at the commencement command large support, because until a dead meat market has been established and recognised as a regular going concern, public interest in the matter will be but small and circumscribed. I believe success would ultimately crown the effort proposed to be made by the Hamilton Borough Council. Progress would undoubtedly be slow on account of vested interests and the difficulty of turning the current of trade into a different channel from that in which it has been accustomed to flow. Still little by little the thing could be done. Personal influence brought to bear would open the door, and a new class of dealers would be created whose operations would certainly extend until the trade was established. There is no doubt whatever that the proposed yards would be a public convenience, particularly at such times when cargoes of mutton and lamb are required for outward bound steamers. I was recently at Auckland, and took the opportunity to get the opinion and advice of Mr J. Banks on this question. " You need not fear," he said, "that meat will not keep if slaughtered in Waikato for the Auckland market or for export, as the experience of the Frozen Meat Company is that meat killed at Waitara and sent by steamer and rail into our stores was certainly improved rather than deteriorated, by being properly matured during the number of hours that elapsed before it was placed in the refrigerating chamber." He also stated that it was absolutely essential to success in tho matter of mutton and lamb that these animals should be killed at some place on the railway line as convenient as possible to the district in which they have been fed, so as to minimise the driving, but that a drive of even 20 miles carefully done, would not injuriously affect the meat. Fat sheep and lambs ought not if possible to be put in trucks alive, as the meat, especially the lamb«, is so easily bruised by the several handlings and the inevitable knocking about, to say nothing of the injury done to the animal by the two or three days starving he has had to enduro, —namely, the time between leaving his owner's pasture and the receiving hia quietus at the hands at the slaughterman. Bruised meat is particularly noticeable after being frozen, and never f.\ih to be a factor in lowering values. Now, as Waikato must in the near future h'nd an outside market for meat, it seems to me that proper yards in a central place would be tho first step towards opening up what ought to be a profitable outlet for surplus stock, if care be taken to ship only at suoh seasons as when on arrival in England the smallest competition from local sources shall be met. But as regards the immediate, sale of dead meat in Auckland, the low prices at which the prime cuts of beef sont up from Waitara were lately sold at by auction and privately, indicate that those who start this business must look rather for future than for present success.