The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-08-07

people that would live here, and work here. and
by-and-bye would rectify our fatal disproportion
Of sexes.
THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT
Il a subject deserving of very earnest conzidera-
ton in these Islands. We have nearly 20O, 200
head Of cattle, and about as many sheep, and we
consume for food but a small part Of our increase.
The town Of Honolulu with 1852 inhabitants,
of which about 1000 are foreign whites butcher
so to 100 sheep a week, or say 5000 head 4
year Lahaina "a sheep a week or 1000 4 year,
and Wailuku and Hilo not quite so many, as
beef Is their chief consumption so, if we shy
1000 head of sheep for orr towns consumption,
and other 5000 head eaten on the ranches and
plantations, we give a large estimate of mutton
consumed for food on our Islands, and this esti-
mate is less than ten per cent. Of our annual
increase. And the same may be said in re-
spect 10 beef. Then what must be done with
our excess Of increase on oyerstocked lands,
since we have no foreign outlet except q trifing
export to Tahiti, for our live stock and meats?
The usual course is to slaughter bullocks for
their hides and tallow, and sheep for their talow
alone, as the price offered for their pelts will
not induce the grazier to ship them to Honolulu,
and to throw the meat of the animals away.
We have known thousands of carcases Of good
bullocks and sheep to be cast away, and as we
have no carrion birds or animals, they have been
left on our fields to empoison the pure air of our
Archipelago.
In respect to this matter, our graziers arc on a
par, in neglecting the utilization of their surplus
meat, with the former vaqueros of South America,
or the early bushmen of Australia. But it is
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them in once wasteful Paraguay and the British
Austral Colonies, and throughout the world, that
our squandered meat should be preserved for
wholesome food in more needy parts of the world
and we receive therefor a refreshing shower of
additional capital for our surplus production.
The American housewife is no longer wearied,
as in days gone by, with the sailing and drying
of winter stores. However remote she may live
from O market, she can now have fresh meats,
vegetables, and fruits on her table all the year
round in as good condition and on as good terms,
as if there was n butcher and a market at her
door. There is a capital of S25, 900 900 en-
ployed in the United States in the meat presery-
ing business. By the help of the Theoretically
sealed cans, Texas can supply the Union with
fresh beef, Vermont with mutton, New jersey
with peaches and tomatoes, New York with
butter, Cape Cod coast with fresh fish, and
Virginia with fresh oysters, and we could feed
ten times our population with our surplus meat.
Then, why don't We? Not altogether owing
to our lack of enterprise, but on account of the
heavy cost of tinware for containers, our diff
culties in respect to labor, but chiefly on account
of our supposed want Of u ready market. How
ever this latter, as we say, is only a suppositious
disability, as there is in fact a great and lucrative
market for all the surplus meat that Polynesia as
well as Australasia may have to spare, and this
market is furnished by the army and the people
of France. Every pound of meat furnished to
the French soldier costs the French Government
twenty-five cents, and SO France seeks supplies at
more economic rates from the vast surplus of
Australia. Consul Simon of Sydney has adj
dressed q circular to the several governors of
the British Austral Colonies in which he seeks
information for his government in respect to the
production of preserved meat and among other
interesting statements he mentions that one daily
ration for the army Of France would require
about 1000 bullocks, or 25 900 sheep; and that
his government is prepared to give about sixteen
cents a pound for preserved meat.
We could slaughter annually 20 1000 head of
cattle and 40 900 head of sheep, producing TO-
600, 600 pounds of beef and 2 900 900 pounds of
mutton for expectation, besides our home supply,
and still maintain a steady and healthy increase.
As we must estimate n loss in preserved meat of
one half in bone, we would have of clean meat
for export 5000 900 pounds, which at l6 cents
would be worth $500, 900, and if we deduct fifty
per cent. for cost of preparation and package, VIC
have a net remainder of nearly half a million of
dollars. Now this is a large amount, far more
than all the net profit that is derived from all the
productions of the isles at this day and yet this
is a reasonable calculation of what might be made
out of our surplus meat that is gong to waste.
The figures of our assumed successful pecuniary
result may be sneered at but of one thing we
are sure, and that is the amount of surplus meat
in the country as stated above. Good bullocks
can in some localities be bought in quantities for
prices less than the cost of their transportation to
Honolulu. There arc on these Islands herds OF
cattle, large and small, that can be bought for
four dollars a head. Such were Australian prices
a few years ago. One pound sterling was once
not q bad price for a lot Of horned stock in the
Colonies but now, thanks to the meat presery-
ing enterprise, the Australian grazier may expect
eight pounds sterling per head for his bullocks;
and so may we with the help of air tight cans
hope for the same result.
We are pleased to be informed that a gentle
man of skill and experience is about to make an
experimental trial in preserving one thousand
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