232 Orovth and Development of the Trade in Frozen Mutton. 
Whatever the new bounty whicli our Charge d'Affaires 
ridicules in these terms may do, it applies to beef exports only ; 
and, although I have received the full text of the law and regu- 
lations for the distribution of the funds, it is not necessary for the 
purpose of this paper to quote them. Recent Buenos Ayres 
advices, however, indicate that the scheme of the late Finance 
Minister, Dr. Pacheco, which he has avowed was a " frank and 
open protection of a great national industry," is attracting new 
capital into the freezing trade, although I believe it is held 
that only public companies, and those which submit a very de- 
tailed statement of their finances to the Government, can share 
in the guarantee. 
With or without the bounty, and with or without apparent 
profit, the continual increase from the Plate ports is a feature we 
have now to reckon with as regards this form of competition. 
Of the vessels engaged in the Argentine trade nine are 
chartered by Messrs. Sansinena; the other importers having 
four or five apiece. The fleet now employed has a carrying 
capacity of at least 347,000 carcasses, and, allowing for the 
usual number of voyages made, it should be able to cai-ry over 
a million sheep a year. This figure has been very closely ap- 
proached in 1888. The time occupied is from 30 to 35 days, 
and the present cost of freight, so far as that can be made out, 
seems about \d. per lb. Assuming that the cost of freezing and 
packing, and selling here, could be reduced to another penny, 
there would remain whatever was earned over 2d. per lb. to 
divide between the grower and the importing company. 
Comparison of Prices. 
No record of the development of the trade would be com- 
plete which omitted a comparison between the course of prices 
of our own mutton here and the frozen arrivals over the period 
since the new imports were developed. 
As a matter of fact, the highest reported prices for any 
frozen meat were those of 1883, when British mutton too was 
high. New Zealand lamb, at its highest level in that year, 
fetched Qd. a pound in London, and ordinary mutton Sd. ; but 
the range was great, for the lowest recorded values of the same 
year — 4|cZ. — are only If^. above the present level. The follow- 
ing quotations, taken for the first four items from the records of 
the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, may 
show the relative course of average prices per lb. throughout the 
last six years for the best description of each of the following 
grades of mutton, placing prime Scotch and English at the head 
of the list for contrast ; — 
