Report on the American and Canadian Meat Trade. 333 
" The Fresh Preserved Me;it Agency (Limited), 
" 84, upper Thames-street, E.C., 
" Deaii Sir, " July 9, 1877. 
" Replying to your enquiries in referenco to the Importations of Fresli 
Meat, from America, 1 may briefly say, for your information: 
" 1st. The consignments consist almost entirely of beef, mutton forming but 
a very small portion of the imports ; veal and pork have only been occasionally 
received as trial parcels. 
" 2nd. The consignments are principally received at Liverpool ; London, 
Glasgow, Southampton, and Bristol receive shipments, but the quantity of 
all in no way approaches the imports of the first-named port. 
" 3rd. The Liverpool shipments are disposed of in that town and district, and 
in the surrouudiug districts of Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midland 
Counties, and a large quantity is also sent to the London market. 
"4th. The Glasgow shipments are sold in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and are 
also forwarded southward as far as London. 
" 5th. The Bristol shipments are of comparatively recent date, and are 
consumed in the locality, and in the West of England, and South Wales 
district. 
" 6th. The Southampton shipments are sent to London ; it is very likely 
they will cease, as the consignees complain very much of the expensive 
charges at that port. 
" 7th. The London market receives the unsold portion of all the consign- 
ments to the other ports, in addition to its own. 
" 8th. The quantities of all shipments are advised by telegraph, on the lading 
of the vessel, from America, and the agents of all the shippers do their best 
to sell before the arrival of the ship, and they have facilities for keeping the 
meat in the refrigerators on board the vessels for two or three days after the 
arrival, if they are so disposed. 
" 9th. There is no special provision for keeping the meat on its being 
landed, but it is weighed and loaded into trucks, and is transmitted, at present 
by special trains to London, and ordinary trains to the districts. The trucks 
are without any special means of refrigeration. It is delivered on the London 
market at a cost of 25s. per ton for freight from Liverpool, and 2s. per ton for 
delivery ; the rates of freight from other ports are in the same ratio. 
" 10th. The commission charged to the shippers' agents is a private arrange- 
ment, according to the financial facilities offered to the consignors ; that of the 
salesmen in the London market is 2J per cent, on what they sell. 
" 11th. All the railways from Liverpool bring the meat. The Great Western 
has, I believe, taken the greatest trouble in the matter, with the view of pro- 
viding special trucks for carrying the meat in good condition. 
" 12th. The cost of landing and weighing in Liverpool is only a few shillings 
per ton, but I do not know the exact amount. The refrigerators on board 
the vessels are the property of the consignors, who pay a royalty to some of 
the patentees for the use of the patent ; the terms vary. 
" 13th. The hind-quarters of beef sell readily, but the fore-quarters do not 
sell so well, and seldom bring their cost. 
" 14th. The quality of the beef is invariably good, but its condition upon 
arrival varies very much in accordance with the system of refrigeration 
adopted in its transmission, and the care with which the refrigerators have 
been worked. 
" 15th. Very little of the meat has arrived tainted, except from the im- 
perfect systems of refrigeration and other causes, readily preventable. Some 
