The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-04-03 00:00:00

THE SHIPMENT OF FRESH MEAT
FROM AUSTRALIA.

A telegram from Sydney, New South Wales, says :
" The success of the Strathleven meat shipment has
caused a deep impressimn in the colony, and the idea
has been mooted to utilise the exhibition building for
storing chilled country-killed meat prior to shipment."

The Times, in noticing the above telegram, has the follow-
ing leader on the subject
"No little interest was aroused in this country a
few weeks ago when the steamer Strathleven arrived
in London from Sydney bringing several tons of fresh
meat in good preservation. The shipment was merely
an experimental one, but the success of the experi-
ment may prove to be a matter of considerable
importance both to the Australian colonies and the
mother country. This is evidently the view taken
in Sydney, as appears from a telegram which we
print this morning. Enterprise in New South
Wales is quickened by the success of the Strathleven,
and already schemes are on foot for repeating the ex-
periment. It is even proposed to utilize the Exhibi-
tion building in Sydney as a receptacle for stored meat,
to be kept at a proper temperature while awaiting
shipment; and the landowners and stock-breeders of
New South Wales are quite prepared to take advant-
age of the new market for their produce which
appears to be opening before them. It is pre-
mature at present to form any definite judgment
as to the probable Success of such an enterprise
when conducted on a large scale. First experi-
ments of this nature are apt to be conducted with no
very minute calculations of profit and loss, and it is
only after a good deal of experience that the average
market cost of the commodity furnished can be de-
termined. Nevertheless, the success of the Strath-
leven experiment was sufficiently remarkable. The
vessel left Sydney on November 29, the meat having
been shipped at a temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
During the voyage the temperature of the sea reached
83 degrees, but no difficulty was found in keeping the
temperature of the meat chamber considerably below the
freezing point nar in maintaining the dryness and
purity of the atmosphere. When Gravesend was
reached on February 1 the meat remained perfectly
frozen, the temperature of the river being 40 de-
grees, while that of the meat chamber showed a
maximum of 27 and a minimum of 9 degrees. These,
or corresponding conditions, had been maintained
throughout the voyage, though the apparatus by
which the temperature was regulated had not been
at work on an average for more than five hours a day.
It is accordingly established that meat can be frozen in
Australia and delivered to all appearance in prime
condition in London, What may be its precise value
in comparison with fresh meat killed for the London
market is still a question, perhaps, that cannot be
answered without further experience. But it is stated
that meat can be purchased at Sydney at less than
2d. a pound, and that 2d. a pound more would cover
the cost of shipping it and bringing it over. If this be
really the case, it is hardly possible to doubt that a
very few years will witness thesgrowth of an important
trade in meat between the Australian Colonies and
London.
It is natural to suppose that America, from being
so much nearer, would always be able to undersell
Australia in the English markets for foreign meat.
But the extra cost of transit from Australia is balanced
by the lower cost of prsduction. Mr. Adams, whose
letter from Sydney we printed a few clays ago, affirms,
moreover, that the quality of Australian meat is superior
to that of American. That is a matter on which English
consumers will be pretty sure to insist on judging for
themselves; but the important point is that Australia
is for the most part a grazing country, and that it can
maintain and does maintain for the sake of wool and hides
a larger quantity of sheep and cattle than it can pro-
fitably consume as food. Mr. Adams calculates that
it can export with advantage one-fifth of its stock,
which he estimates approximately at 63,000,000 sheep
and 7,000,000 cattle. In New South Wales alone he
tells us that there are at least 150,000,000 acres of
"squatting country" which are capable of great im-
provement in their capacity for feeding cattle if suffi-
cient inducement offers; so that there need be no fear
of the meat supply from Australia falling short after
it is once established. It is, nevertheless indis-
putable that Australia is peculiarly liable to
suffer from prolsnged and severe drought, and
this consideration would have a material influence
on the general price of shipments, and would therefore
have to be taken into account in any attempt to com-
pete with the American markets. At present we can
only say that the new enterprise looks promising both
for customers in this country and for producers in
Australia, and we wish it every success, though we
cannot, as yet, regard the isolated success of the
Strathleven as entirely decisive. The organization of
a permanent trade in fresh meat from Australia must
depend on •the prospect of continued and material
profit, and so far the data are hardly sufficient for a
confident judgment in the matter.
It is evident that if the trade can once be established
its indirect results in the general extension of com-
merce will hardly be less important than its direct
effects on the food supply of this country. Vessels
which go to Australia to bring home frozen meat must
take out cargoes of goods for which a demand exists
in Australia. Secure of a cargo on their return they
will be able to reduce their rates of outward freight,
and thus not only shall we get food more cheaply in
England, but we shall find a..--new and growing market
mforustobu h
be many
manome y
Engplriodshuccot in h colonies. There
must modittiese
which
hAustralhiaenres
would gladly purchase if the price were not prohibi-
tory; and as the freight for so long a voyage must be
a material element in the colonial price) any reduction
in its rate must tend to develop consumption. For the
sake of the mother country ae well as of the colony,
we hope the expectations of meat exporters in New
South Wales may not be over-sanguine. If these
expectations are well-founded, commerce will win an-
other of its peaceful and beneficent victories. Australia
will develop its special staple, and will send England
its surplus, and England will send in return the
manufactures in which its supremacy is unrivalled.
It would not be easy to find a more striking illustra-
tion of the way in which steam, science, and com-
merce have knit the uttermost parts of the -world
together than in the probability that before very long
. it may be no uncommon thing for an English family
, to dine on fresh meat which was fed and killed at the
Antipodes.

With reference to the above The Times has pub-
lished the following letters :

Sir,—ln reference to your leading article of to-day which
contains the statement that the machinery which brought
over the Strathleven cargo of fresh meat only worked five
hours daily on an average, permit me to state that from the
observations I instructed should be made during the voyage
I find that the machine was worked continuously from the
17th of November to the 15th of December, when the cold
became more intense than was required, so that from that
date to the arrival at the Suez Canal it was only worked from
eight to sixteen hours daily, and during the last fortnight of
the voyage only five hours daily, as stated by you. If the
cargo had been a hundred tons of meat instead of thirty-four,
the machine could and would have seen worked continuously
the whole voyage.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
J. I. COLEMAN.
45, West Nile-street, Glasgow, March 26.

Sir,—Permit me say the question of preserving meat in
fresh condition all the way from the Antipodes does not rest
on one experiment only.
Recently 10,000 carcases were landed at Havre from South
America and commanded high prices in Paris.
Too much praise cannot be given to Messrs. Mllwraith and
M'Eacharn for their enterprise and zeal in solving the most
Important problem of the day.—Your obedient servant,
M. BELL.
Highland-villa, Upper Norwood, March 20.