The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-10 00:00:00

OUR MEAT StiPPLIES.

It is announced that "Australian beef, either boiled or
stewed, but fresh, and sealed in air-tight tins, is now sold
at 7d. per pound in London. To equal in cheapness this
meat without any bone, our ordinary joints with bone
would have to be sold at little more than 4d. per pound."
If we are to obtain -our beef through the vicissitude
of sixteen thousand miles of ocean, we shall realise
the situation of Napoleon's celebrated snot--" When
England becomes dependent upon imports for her
focd, then she can be conquered." A supply of
sound, wholesome meat from somewhere near the
South Pole is likely to be something more than
a venturesome experiment ; of this we may rest assured.
We quote the following from a late number of the
Sydney Morning Herald. The writer of a very valuable
series of articles headed " The Land " says : " Good
wedders, with six months' wool upon them, fetch only
7s. Gd. a head in the Melbourne market. The expenses
of driving, commission, &c., amount to 2s. Gd., and
each fleece is worth 3s. ; so that only 2s. is left for the
carcase. The advocates of ' boiling down' say that the
tallow would be worth 55., which, with 3s. for the fleece,
would give a better return, and save the expense and loss
of driving to market. Now, if the herds and flocks have
increased to a point beyond which they cease to be pro-
fitable, it will be a losing game to go on; and mixed
farming, allowing of the production of such articles as
can be easily transported to good markets, must ensue.
The climate and soil of Victoria, as well as of New
South Wales, is happily suited to multitudes of paying
crops—grain, wine, oranges, perishable fruits of all
sorts, coffee, sugar, tobacco, cotton, and the several sorts
of foliage upon which silkworms feed. But for the present
the Boiling-down Company in Deniliquin will have a fat
time of it. An establishment at Hay is to be constructed
capable of reducing at least 10,000 sheep a week. The
operations of the company, considering that in England
last year were imported 790,880 sheep and lambs for
food, and that mutton ranges there from 6d. to Bd. per
pound, can scarcely be viewed with satisfaction, although
they are doing the best thing that can be done just
now." A common-sense measure toward increasing the
supply of butcher's meat at home would be to take better
care of the animals we breed for the purpose. A great autho-
rity estimates our loss of live stock by diseases which are
of foreign origin at six millions sterling per year for
several years past. Everybody admits that it must be
something very much like this figure ; and the question is,
how to procure animals from abroad without letting in
the contagious disorder. Agriculturists are afraid that
the successful mastery obtained over the cattle plague
may lead, by natural reaction, to weariness of the whole
subject ; whereas now is just the time for instituting
or preserving seaport regulations which may be an effec-
tual safeguard against the importation of the dreaded
evils, while leaving the internal cattle traffic of the coun-
try free of those restrictions which have pressed heavily
upon the meat markets. The public is perhaps not aware
of a strong, almost universal feeling among breeders
and glaziers, that they could send even more
meat into our mar4ts than they do now, if they had
no imported store stock from foreign countries. Ireland,
they say, is an ample breeding ground for the stocking
of our summer pastures and winter yards and byres,
in addition to the animals bred in Great Britain itself.
A large part of the danger of admitting destructive mala-
dies would be obviated if importation consisted only of
animals fit for food. Develope the importation of
meat as much as you like ; we are prepared to take
our chance in our home markets against the
graziers, feeders, and flesh-picklers of all the world ;
but we can conduct an extensive husbandry, and furnish
as much butcher's meat as our vegetable produce will
allow, without buying calves, lambs, or yerling or lean
animals from abroad. For years and years we have lost
by death from imported diseases more animals than have
landed on our shores for the purpose of being fed here.

LYONS, TILE BRAVE SAILOR.—Mr. Benson, the
magistrate at the Thames Police-court, has announced
that the amount forwarded through various channels for
the seaman William Lyons, who at the risk of his life
went into a burning house to save the life of a woman,
and was much injured, had reached £B5O. This large sum
has all been voluntarily subscribed in the short space of
seven weeks. The worthy magistrate said there ought to
be moderation even in charity, and that the public benevo-
lence, particularly at this inclement season, ought not to
be concentrated upon one object. He therefore must
decline to receive any further gifts for Lyons. There are
so many other pressing claims upon the benevolent that
the charitably disposed will easily find worthy recipients
for their spare coin.