38 MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCE 



be made of the carcases of the animals. All this, however, 

 has been completely changed by the adoption of the freezing 

 process, whereby meat may be sent thousands of miles over 

 the sea without deteriorating. The freezing factories of New 

 Zealand are among the finest in the world ; those at Wellington, 

 Oamaru, and Timaru are some of the most celebrated. 



To an Australian, until recently, sheep meant wool, and, 

 as in the case of New Zealand, all the energies of the pastoral- 

 ists were concentrated on producing the largest amount and 

 finest quality of wool. ' Before freezing works were established, 

 boiling down was the one resource, the tallow, hides, and sheep- 

 skin giving a meagre return, while the carcase went to the 

 pigs.' And we read of a leading pastoralist bringing down 

 a draft of sheep from his Darling Downs Estate to Brisbane 

 to be boiled down, and during the process going round daily 

 with a handcart selling the legs of mutton at sixpence apiece. 



All that is now altered and large quantities of frozen 

 mutton are exported, the bulk of which comes to the United 

 Kingdom. Queensland and New South Wales are the chief 

 exporting states. 



In Victoria great freezing works have been established in 

 the sheep-raising district of Wimmera, and in New South 

 Wales in the Goulburn Valley. During the journey from the 

 iiland pastures to the sea-coast the animals lose weight. Also 

 the cost of carriage for frozen meat is less than for live sheep, 

 so that by slaughtering them on the spot, and having inland 

 freezing works, a great economy is effected. 



Before the days of railways, wool took six or nine months by 

 bullock drays to reach the coast, and the cost of carriage was 

 more than the value of the wool. Though this state of things 

 has long since passed away, and railways now run from the 

 coast inland, yet many more are needed, and when these 

 are built the export of frozen meat will receive a great incentive. 



Summary. Until recently we had always looked to the 

 United States for our chief supplies of imported meat, but 

 during the first ten years of this century her stocks of animals 



