Evening star., 1901-03-30

light to dark. Their wages are higher than
those of the United States. In the busiest
parts of the year they receive from 1S to
p cents an hour, and in many cases their
employers add to this a present at the
close of the season. l met one man who
told me he gave each of his hands $50
when the hardest of the work was done
Inc shearing usually begins in Septem-
per ana lasts until January. 1t is done by
the piece being performed by professional
shearers who get from to Az cents
sheep. There are men who can shear more
than hundred sheep in day, and not
Few make their So per diem. The wool
clips vary greatly according to the breeds.
The Merinos range all the way from four
to seven pounds each, while the Leicesters
Will average ten pounds and the Lincolns
which each produce from twenty to thirty
pounds of wool at a clip, but these are ex-
cept1Ons.
In a Big Freezing Factory.
But let US go to one Of the factories
and see just how they prepare this New
Zealand mutton for the tables of Lon
don. New Zealand has twenty-one meat
freezing establishments, and the largest
and oldest of all is here at Christchurch.
1t is known as the Belfast freezing works,
having capital of 100000, upon which it
pays dividends of per cent. 1t is a CO.
operative institution, the sheep owners be-
ing the principal stockholders. 1t gives
them a market for their sheep, working
entirely on commission. The sheep are
driven or shipped to the factory. They are
there killed, frozen, put upon ships and
delivered to the butchers of London at
hxed charge of a penny a pound, and all
profits above this go back to the farmers.
The factory kills about 5000 sheep every
day. shipping on the average more than q
half million carcasses a year.
we take carriage and ride out to the
works. They are within few miles of
Chr1stchurch. The buildings consist of
great sheds surrounded by paddocks filled
with sheep ready for killing and drying
yards, which at first sight seem covered
with snow, but which as we get closer
we see are spotted with great piles of
newly washed wool. We are first taken to
the sheep yards and watch the men drive
the animals up passage way to the kill
ing department on the second floor This
driving Is done by means of decoys. There
are several old sheep which are used day
after day and year after year as the adj
vance guard to lead their brothers to
slaughter They start the procession and
the thousands behind, sheep-like, follow
them. Often ten thousand sheen PASS nm
that roadway in one day
In the killing Rooms.
We follow the sheep into the building.
The killing room is several hundred feet
long. 1t is great hall walled with pens,
each holding twenty sheep. The pens face
The sheep are killed at the rate Of ten
every minute. The butchers are very ex-
pert. They drag out the animals and with
their knives kill them SO quickly that thew
90 not even kick. One man has been
known to kill 230 sheep in a day, but the
usual average per hour is nine sheep for
each man.
After killing sheep the butcher hangs
IT up on hook behind him, strips off the
SKIN cuts OFF the head, dresses it and
washes 1t down with hot water. This Is
done so quickly that 1t takes onlv seven
minutes from the time the live sheen is
picked up until 1t is ready for freezing.
When a sheep is finished the butcher
gives it shove and the pulley to which it
Is hooked, running by gravity on a little
steer track, carries 1t off to the cooling
room. From now on it is not handled until
1t is ready for shipment. The work is done
so rapidly that there is long stream of
carcasses steadily flowing out of the
butcher shop into the cooling room and
later on from there down to the freezing
chambers.
In the Freezing Chambers,
After having been cooled forty-eight
hours that the animal heat may go out OF
them, the carcasses being weighed as they
go, take another trip on their pulleys into
the freezing chambers. There are a dozen
of these, each having storage capacity Of
about 100000 sheep. Each chamber COW
ers one-fifth of an acre, and If you will
imagine good-sized city lot inclosed in
walls of frozen brine coated with snow and
filled with carcaSseS of mutton h. .ging
down from the ceiling so near one another
that they almost touch you may have
some idea of a freezing chamber
Suppose we enter. How cold it is! The
temperature Is eight degrees above zero.
The sheep put in three days ago are al
ready as hard as stone. Tap one of the
carcasses The sound is like tap on a
drum head. Take one down and rest 1t on
the floor, it is so stiff that it stands alone
1t feels like ice. My fingers freeze as take
notes and We are glad to get out.
We now go on into the chambers in