14 



77/ A' WORLD'S MEAT Fl'TUEE 



"The official weights of the various descriptions of frozen and 

 chilled meat imported into the United Kingdom in 1917, as well 

 as the number of packages, are not available, but those for the 

 previous four years, along with the approxinuite total import 

 in 1917, were as follow: — 



1913 1914 1915 



Australia 150,666 tons 143,853 tons 124,572 tons 



New Zealand 122,234 „ 142,700 „ 157,901 „ 



Argentine Republu .. 409,211 „ 356,936 „ 293 909 „ 



Other Countries . . . . 38,146 „ 50,938 „ 86.543 „ 



Total 720,257 tons 694,427 tons 662,925 tons 



1916 1917 



Australia 51,343 tons 



New Zealand 158,123 „ 



Argentine Republic . . 240,297 „ 



Other Countries . . . . 84,048 ,, 



Abont 



ToTAi 533.811 tons 550,000 tons 



Argentina has been shipping very heavily also to the United States during the 

 past t\\o years. 



Cold Storage in the United Kingdom. 



' ' There has been a great deal of discussion lately, in the public 

 press and elsewhere, on the proposals of the Governmejit to in- 

 crease largely the refrigerated storage accommodation at some 

 of the outports. The objects are (a) to avoid the necessity of 

 steamers moving from one port to another in order to discharge 

 their meat cargoes, and (&) to admit of larger stocks being held.- 



"Much may be said in favour of both objects, but unless proper 

 railway facilities for transport to and from the big centres 

 can also be provided, cold storage alone is of little use at an 

 outport. Ability to handle only one cargo in any outport is 

 simply inviting delays in discharge, and unh^ss really large 

 stores can be fitted up the advantages to be gained may be only 

 visionary. It may be convenient to store goods at the first port 

 of discharge, but it is more advantageous to store them close to 

 the ultimate market. Apart from special Admiralty require- 

 ments in time of war, it is best to discharge steamers where 

 they can not only land a complete cargo, but reload a full cargo 

 for export. To secure this would involve not merely the build- 

 ing of stores at each unloading i)ort, but the reorganisation of 



