TJie Great Meat Question 



251 



We notice that Dr Smith has been 

 *' running a-muck " against the value of con- 

 densed milk and preserved meat alike ; but 

 Dr Smith has his peculiarities, like other 

 people, and his science cannot stand against 

 the practical experience of those who, having 

 tasted both articles, pronounce them good 

 and cheap, and give daily evidence of the 

 sincerity of their belief in their advantageous- 

 ness by constantly using them at their own 

 tables. 



It has been said, but very fallaciously, that 

 the taste for preserved meat is " going out " 

 in this country. On the contrary, the very 

 reverse is the case, as our summary in last 

 month's Magazine of the Board of Trade 

 Returns issued up to the end of July con- 

 clusively proved. In the seven months of 

 this year we imported preserved meat to the 

 value of _2^485,434, whereas in the corre- 

 sponding period of the year before we only 

 paid ^297,150, and in the like term of 1870 

 the total amount we expended for this article 

 was but ;^ 1 01, 7 3 9. It thus appears that our 

 taste for preserved meats, instead of diminish- 

 ing, has been about doubling in keenness 

 year by year. 



We are glad that it is so, and should like 

 to see it growing month by month. Our own 

 colonies have cattle, "enough and to .spare," 

 for many years to come, and the great 

 American districts, south and west, are prac- 

 tically inexhaustible. 



Under such circumstances, we regard Avith 

 approval the organization of the Colonial 

 and Foreign Meat Supply Company, whose 

 object is to extend farther than ever the 

 consumption of preserved meats. At present 

 the poor cannot always buy a tin, in the 

 quantity it is sold ; this company proposes, 

 by the estabUshment of depots throughout 

 the United Kingdom, ro sell this good and 

 cheap food in such quantities as may suit 

 the requirements of the poorest consumer. 

 One remark in the prospectus struck us. It 

 was this : — " While so much is being effected 

 for the elevation of the masses, it is not amiss 

 to say here that physical comforts add thereto, 

 and that all such tend to the better perform- 

 ance of the duties of life." This is true. 



A working man who can procure a good 

 meal of cooked meat, without bone, is 

 less likely to seek temporary and illusive 

 stimulants, than one ivho gets no beef or 

 mutton. A well-fed man is necessarily always 

 the best workman. 



In speaking of this new project the Times, 

 in its money article of the 19th inst. 

 says : — " The undertaking is supported 

 by a number of leading people con- 

 nected with Australia and elsewhere, 

 and its object is to take all possible steps 

 to secure the most constant and perfect 

 supply of preserved meat from whatever 

 region it may best be obtained, and by a 

 thorough organization of depots and other 

 requisite estabhshments, to popularize its use 

 among all classes. The present price of 

 butcher's meat is equal to is. Sd. per lb. and 

 the most carefully preserved meats can be 

 furnished at 6d. per lb." 



But while recommending in the strongest 

 possible manner an extension of the means 

 of introducing preserved meats into this 

 country, we should also like to impress upon 

 farmers the desirabiUty of increasing their 

 stock. This meat from abroad can never, 

 save under the most deplorable circumstances 

 to this country, do more than fill up a very 

 small hole indeed, in the stomachs of the 

 teeming population of the United Kingdom. 

 " The present state of the cattle question in- 

 volves a greater subject than the price ot 

 meat — the question is. How is the cultivation 

 of Great Britain to be carried on ?" This is 

 the pertinent remark of a correspondent in 

 Thursday's Times, and his following observa- 

 tions are so well worthy of serious considera- 

 tion that we give them without abridg- 

 ment : — 



This question will have to be solved with the cattle 

 question. No doubt cultivation will be carried on in 

 some fashion as long as it can be, but unless the 

 cattle question shall be speedily put on a satisfactory- 

 footing, it will not be long before the high price of 

 meat will be accompanied by a chronic and more 

 serious difficulty — viz., a permanently high price of 

 flour. 



Agriculturists of very considerable experience will 

 admit that quite independently of the meat-price 

 question, the most solid and lasting improvements 



