58 THE won ID'S MEAT FCTCRE 



Davidson, and others. The first cargo of frozen meat from 

 New Zealand was sent Home in the ship Duncdin, and the prices 

 realised in London and Glasgow were 6^d. per lb. for mutton 

 and 74d. per lb. for lamb. Only one sheep in the whole cargo 

 was condemned. At that time their flocks were, in round 

 figures, 12,000,000, and it was thought by those who had studied 

 the question that they could not bear a greater drain for expor- 

 tation )nir])Oses than 300,000 per annum. Later on, ^Ir. Brydone 

 foretold that it might be possible to export 4,000,000 carcases. 

 What was the history of the development and its effects on our 

 community ? 



"New Zealand had exported nearly half the total number of 

 sheep and lambs that had been brought into the British market 

 since the initiation of refrigeration. The total number of 

 carcases exported to this country was 224,000,000. New Zealand 

 had sent 107,000,000 of tliis number, Australia and the Argentine 

 being responsible for the balance of 117,000,000. And what of 

 the prosperity that had followed this? In 1880 the population 

 of New Zealand was less than half a million ; it was now 

 1,180,000. In 1880 lands in occupation amounted to 24,000 

 holdings : there were now 80,000 holdings, comprising 42,000.000 

 acres in cultivation, and the capital value of the land was 

 £389,000,000, as against £100,000,000 in 1880. 



"It must not be concluded that all this work had been easily 

 done. Its accomplishment required great enterprise, energy, 

 knowledge and capital. ]\Iight he strike a personal note? He 

 was a shareholder in one of the earliest freezing companies, and 

 in later years became the Minister of the Department (Agri- 

 culture) which had under its charge the supervision of all 

 abattoirs in New Zealand, and the Inspectors who examined 

 every animal before it was exported, seeing to its absolute 

 healthiness, and attaching to every carcase a certificate that it 

 was absolutelv free from all disease." 



