41

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months—in fact, for nine months in the year. If one shipment was made on the chance of getting high prices at Home, very low prices might be the result. It was necessary for a private individual to ship every month in the year in order to secure uniform prices for several years. Mr. Lawey agreed that the paper was very valuable if merely as a historical record, and that it would be acceptable throughout the length and breadth of the country on account of the very valuable information it imparted to persons engaged in the export trade. Mr. Brydone had touched on the question of the disposal of the meat in London. Some time ago he (Mr. Lawry) had had a long conversation with Mr. Dilworth, who had just returned from a visit to the Old Country, and while there had made exhaustive inquiries into the method in which imported meat was dealt with in the London market; and that gentleman had told him that his inquiries had satisfied him that a large portion of the Argentine meat was disposed of as New Zealand mutton. He mentioned one particular case where a carcase was branded "New Zealand mutton." He (Mr. Dilworth) went into the shop and asked the butcher if he was satisfied that the meat came from New Zealand. The butcher said he believed it was as represented to him. He told the butcher that he was certain it was not New Zealand mutton, and that a New-Zealander would not give such mutton to the dogs. He then proceeded to trace where the mutton had come from, and ascertained that it had come from the Argentine. He (Mr. Lawry) thought that was a matter which the Conference should take up. They should endeavour, if possible, to secure that New Zealand mutton was sold as New Zealand mutton, and that other meat should not be allowed to be sold under that name, because it would have a detrimental effect if maat of an inferior quality was sold as New Zealand meat. He was sorry that Mr. Brydone had not gone into the question of frozen beef. He realised that that question did not affect the South Island in the same way as it did the North Island. He took it that the North Island was more of a cattle country, although, of course, there were a great number of sheep for export in Wellington and Napier. He thought that the cattle exports must necessarily increase during the next three or four years. He had recently taken a trip up the Turakina River and the adjacent country, and he considered the resources of the country for fattening purposes were illimitable. He was recently talking to a gentleman at Hawera, and had ascertained that the results of exported beef had been in many cases absolutely ruinous. Some of the beef sent Home had not realised more than £4 a carcase. It was stated that when the beef got Home, on account of the texture of the flesh and all the juices escaping, it became practically unsaleable. He did not know what science might not accomplish ; science had done much to overcome difficulties, and it might devise means to remedy defects now existing which practically were ruinous to the trade. He was very pleased with one part of the paper, where Mr. Brydone had made it clear that the export of meat had been so beneficial to the colony. He (Mr. Lawry) undertook to say that one of the most important industries of the colony was the dairy industry, and he realised to the fullest extent that had it not been for the success attending the export of meat they could never have had the means to export dairy produce. Whilst it was scarcely possible to overestimate the importance of the export of meat from the colony as a whole, he considered that to the small settlers the dairy industry was still more important —for this reason : that it enabled the settlers to keep their families together. Under the old system there was never any money amongst the small settlers. The exchange of produce was simply carried on by barter. Colonial youth could not be kept at home unless they had a little money from time to time, and in the absence of that in the past they had left their homes and gone elsewhere. Now the small settlers got cheques for their produce, and could give their children a little pocket-money, which would help to keep the families together. He thought that those engaged in the dairy industry owed a debt of gratitude to those who had been instrumental in developing the meat trade (and so providing a regular steam service), which they would never be able to repay. One gentleman —Mr. Bruce —had asked what it would cost to erect a freezing-plant. He (Mr. Lawry) had taken a lively interest in this matter. He had written a great many articles, which had appeared in English papers, and had come to the conclusion that in starting freezing companies the less money they spent the more likely they were to attain success. They had started freezing-works in the North, and had spent £40,000 in reclaiming land, erecting works, &c, and the result had been disastrous. The Wellington Meat Company had started with a hulk, and as the business grew had built other works : they first made their business a success, and then were able to erect a plant out of the profits. Taking it altogether, he was exceedingly pleased with Mr. Brydone's paper. He thought the two papers they had heard read that day from two eminently practical men such as Mr. Brydone and Mr. Roberts would alone have justified the calling-together of the Conference. He would like to return his thanks to those gentlemen, for they had given him a lot of information which he had not before possessed. Mr. Bruce said that New South Wales was altogether behindhand in exporting frozen meat, but he hoped they would do better in future. Both colonies were under a debt of gratitude to the late Mr. T. S. Mort, an able man whose motto was that there should be no more waste. That gentleman had not lived to see the success of his proposals. If he had had such practical men as Mr. Brydone and Mr. Eoberts to help him he would perhaps have succeeded better than he did. With regard to freezing-works, he might say they had only two in operation in New South Wales —one at Darling Harbour, where they could freeze two thousand sheep a day, and the other at Aberdeen, under the management of Nelson Brothers, the " Australian Chilling and Freezing Company ;" and there was good work being done at both places, and a large number of sheep were going through. They had a difficulty which New Zealand had not experienced—viz., the fatteningcountry was a considerable distance from the seaport. They believed that they required to establish killing- and chilling-works perhaps four or five hundred miles away, and bring the carcases down to be frozen at the seaport. Nelson Brothers were doing what it had been considered could not be done. They were now freezing some eighty miles from the seaport at Newcastle, and it was said they were going a hundred miles further away, to establish other works. They had two killing- and chilling-places—one at Narrandera, four hundred miles from Sydney, and