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The high price at which meat has stood for some years has made it
necessary for the working classes to restrict themselves to a scanty
allowance of animal food, and this often of poor quality. The difficulty
of providing joints of meat for their families has, indeed, also been
felt severely by people who are comparatively well-to-do. Under these
circumstances capitalists have thought it worth a considerable
investment of money to discover some means of bringing the cheap and
magnificent supplies of New Zealand into the English market. After many
failures, success has at length crowned the enterprise, and nothing can
exceed the perfection in which New Zealand mutton is now placed on the
English market. It is universally admitted that the meat, both as
respects its nutritive value and its flavour, is unsurpassed, while the
price is very moderate. The same remarks apply to New Zealand lamb. It
commences to arrive in January, and is in the height of its season when
our English lamb is a luxury which can only be enjoyed by the few.
Nelson Brothers, Limited, stand foremost among the importers of this
invaluable food supply. The mutton and lamb selected by them is of the
highest quality, and their system of refrigeration is perfect. In summer
these New Zealand meats have a great advantage over the home supply, as
although in keeping they may lose colour, they remain good and sweet
much longer than English-killed meat.
The Company have large refrigerating stores under Cannon Street Station
capable of holding some 70,000 sheep, and have recently erected stores
of _treble that capacity_ at Nelson's Wharf, Commercial Road, Lambeth,
wherein the latest improvements both as regards construction and
refrigerating machinery have been adopted, in order to facilitate the
development of the frozen meat trade.