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108
to condition and soundness it is satisfactory to note that in comparison with
1901, with which the supply corresponds so very closely, there is a diminution
in the weight seized as unfit for food by your Inspectors.
There is, however, still a great waste, which, to a certain extent, is an
inevitable consequence of the long distance by which we are separated from
the sources of supply, and although greater care in selection and preparation
of meat for shipment, together with improvements in machinery for
refrigerating, may do much to minimise the loss, yet it is one we can scarcely
hope wholly to eliminate.
Referring to the Report of last year and the forecast of future supplies
therein contained, it will be found that the opinion expressed has been
justified.
The close of the war in South Africa has left the firms engaged in the
export of meat from the Argentine at liberty to supply the wants of this
country, and refrigerated beef from the River Plate district is now on sale
daily at the Central Market, and proves a formidable competitor to the
similarly preserved article from the United States with which we have been
for so long conversant; but it must be admitted there is still much to be
desired in point of quality, the Argentine productions of to-day being about
on a level with the early consignments from America thirty years ago, and it
is easy to understand that careful selection at the breeding farms, together
with the importation of some of the best blood in this country, have
effected considerable improvement during that period. The effect on the
meat coming to this country is still more marked, as it has been always
found, both in regard to frozen and refrigerated meat, that if any were
prejudicially affected by conditions obtaining during the time of preservation,
it was the carcasses of imperfectly fed animals which suffered most, and
when it is borne in mind that the passage from Buenos Ayres takes
three weeks, while that from New York occupies six days, it will be seen
that any deficiency of quality is sure to tell upon the Argentine beef
to a greater extent than upon that from North America. Still we have the
fact that it comes in regular shipments, that notwithstanding the defects
noted above it answers the purpose of some salesmen to pay special attention
to it, that the companies in the trade have been able to pay good dividends to
their shareholders, and that they are managed by men of business who know
what is wanted, and so we are justified in looking for a gradual and steady
improvement in the quality of the meat, and the condition in which it may
be expected to arrive on this market.
The American beef trade in London is mainly in the hands of some halfdozen
firms, and the article they supply is now so well known as to render
comment unnecessary; it has been on sale in sufficient quantities of
satisfactory quality. Some of these same firms are also engaged in bringing
live cattle to the waterside markets at Deptford, Birkenhead, &c.; these are