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950,000l. was raised by annuities expiring in 1885. Annual charge, 60,2391. 4s. 5d.

In 1862 the further sum of 970,000l. was created for the same. Annual charge, 63,9381. 153. 3d.

In 1863 a further sum of 1,200,000l. was authorized, by 25 & 26 Vict. c. 78, for the same purpose, and 820,000l. was raised by annuities for 1885. Annual charge, 55,0751. 93. 9d.

In 1864 a further sum of 750,000l. was raised for the same purpose. Annual charge, 52,5637. 14s. 6d.

In 1865 a further sum of 460,000l. was raised in annuities for 1885. Annual charge, 33,5091. 33. Od.

BREWERS.

Accounts of the Number of Persons in each of the several Collections in the United Kingdom licensed as Brewers' Victuallers to sell beer to be drunk on the Premises, and to sell Beer not to be drunk on the Premises, from 1st October, 1864, to 30th September, 1865. (Mr. Locke.) (17th April, 1866.) (189.)

In England there were 2,235 brewers, 66,835 victuallers. The number of persons licensed to sell beer to be drunk on the premises was 42,660; and not to be drunk on the premises, 2,859. The number who brew their own beer -victuallers, 21,431; persons licensed to sell beer to be drunk on the premises, 9,978; not to be drunk on the premises, 515. The brewers consumed 30,886,616 bushels of malt; the victuallers, 7,794,353 bushels; those licensed to sell beer to be drunk on the premises, 3,300,260 bushels; and licensed to sell beer not to be drunk on the premises, 351,037 bushels. In Scotland there were 110 brewers and 12,182 victuallers. The brewers consumed 1,932,345 bushels of malt, the victuallers 282,651 bushels. In Ireland there were 90 brewers and 15,409 victuallers. The brewers consumed 2,748,772 bushels of malt, the victuallers 419 bushels. In the United Kingdom there were 2,435 brewers and 94,426 victuallers. The total quantity of malt consumed was by brewers, 35,567,333 bushels; by victuallers, 8,077,423 bushels. The total number of bushels of malt made was 48,946,437 bushels, and the amount of duty charged was 6,636,6891. 5s. 14d. Of the common brewers in the United Kingdom paying for licenses,

31,032 were for less than 1,000 barrels ; 1,647 for 1,000 and less than 10,000, and progressively till 600,000 barrels and upwards. The total amount charged on each class of licenses was 360,2917. 13s. 6d. During the year there were exported from the United Kingdom 582,583 barrels of beer, of the declared value of 2,148,3267.

NATIONAL DEBT.

Returns of the Annual Charge of that Part of the National Debt consisting of Annuities for Terms of Years, and of the respective Amounts, and the Periods when these Terminable Annuities expire. (Mr. Alderman Salomons.) (17th April, 1866.) (290.) THE annual charge for the annuities per Geo. IV. c. 22, amounts to 585,7401., and expires the 5th April, 1867. The charge for annuities per 18 Vict. c. 18; 23 & 24 Vict. c. 109, &c., &c., amounts to 680,341l. 7s. 3d., and expires the 5th April, 1885; and the Red Sea Telegraph Company's account per 25 & 26 Vict. c. 29, amounts to 36,000l., and expires 4th August, 1908. The annuities for a limited number of years, per 10 Geo. IV. c. 24, and 3 Will. IV. c. 14, amount to 56,2451. 78. The following annuities will cease at the successive periods named :—in the five years ended 5th Jan., 1871, 603,860l. 6s. 6d.; 1876, 11,7477. 8s. 6d.; 1881, 23,0471. 6s. 6d. ; 1886, 682,420. 1s. 9d.; 1891, 438. 18s.; 1896, 3097. 12s.; 1901, 52l. 17s. 6d.; 1906, 2581. 4s. 6d. ; in the three years ending 1909, 36,0601.; and from 1912 to 1953, 2371. Total present annual charge for annuities for terms of years, 1,358,431l. 15s. 3d.

SOUTH AMERICAN MEAT.

Report on the Methods employed in the River Plate for Curing Meat for European Markets.

THE following report on South American meat as adapted to the European market was made by Mr. Ford to the Earl of Clarendon, and sent on the 26th June, 1866 :

"At a time when the ravages of a widely extended disease have proved so fatal to the cattle in Europe, and meat, by heightened prices, has been raised almost beyond the reach

of any but the rich, the feasibility of utilizing the superabundance of meat produced in the rich pasture lands watered by the River Plate and its tributaries has become a subject of the greatest importance, and one to which within the last two years the attention of scientific men has been directed.

"Not long ago the cattle of the River Plate were prized for their hides alone, the flesh being wasted or disposed of at nominal prices. Even at the present day first rate meat is sold in the market at Buenos Ayres by the piece and not by weight, a leg of mutton costing from 10d. to 1s.; and beef is comparatively cheaper.

"This indication of the prices ruling in the markets of a densely-populated city of meatconsuming inhabitants, will tend to prove the amount which is procurable, notwithstanding the quantity that is yearly cured and exported for the use of the coloured population of the Brazils and Havana, and which amounted last year to 70,000,000 lbs. weight.

"Indeed, the number of horned cattle and sheep in these countries is almost incredible. The total export of hides last year exceeded 2,500,000. If 12 per cent. is allowed for the amount slaughtered yearly, a stock of fully 22,000,000 cattle would be given; and it would appear from calculations based on the amount of wool exported, that there must be at least 35,000,000 of sheep in the countries bordering the River Plate and its affluents.

"The salted beef well known under the name of "charqué" is the staple food of the negroes, who display a great predilection for it, in spite of its extremely untempting look, which has been the chief cause of all attempts to introduce it into Europe as an article of food having failed; and the samples which have found their way into England have tended in no small degree to cause meat imported from South America to be regarded with suspicion, and to attach to it a bad name.

"Mr. Williams, however, a saladerista of thirty years' experience in this country, is inclined to ascribe the failure in England of this salted beef rather to bad management than to any fault in the meat itself. Jerked beef as prepared in the River Plate, shipped in a wet state and properly stowed, will, he believes, arrive in Europe perfectly sound, and would prove a cheap and wholesome food for the poorer VOL. IV.

classes. Its preparation is extremely simple; the meat is cut into thin slices of from one to two inches in thickness, immersed in strong brine, and laid down in salt for two days, then it is ready for shipment in a wet state; if desired to be exported dry, the operation is completed in the open air by exposing it to the sun from three to four days in summer, and from four to eight in winter.

"A great objection, however, to this class of meat is, that the greater portion of its nutritive qualities are carried away in the brine, and that the salt being applied externally, by the time. it has penetrated to the centre of the slice, the outward parts may be almost said to be destroyed by an excess of salt; nevertheless, it must be admitted that the human frame will thrive on this aliment, as the stalwart figures of the males and the rounded forms of the female portion of the coloured population of the Brazils can testify.

"The difficulty, however, of inducing Europeans to accept such food, and the lucrative perspective held out to speculators were a process discovered by which the meat of the River Plate could be conveyed 6,000 miles across the Atlantic, and presented to the European consumer in a tempting, palatable, and healthy form, and at a cheap rate, has been the cause, apart from philanthropic motives, of three gentlemen of acknowledged scientific acquirements devoting their attention to the subject.

"Mr. John Morgan, Professor of Anatomy in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Baron von Liebig of Munich, and Mr. Sloper of London, have, by simple and efficacious adaptations of the principles of science to material. purposes, made discoveries which open new fields of industry, and which, if carried out with proper energy and spirit, will work incalculable benefits on mankind, and at the same time develop the vast resources of these South American republics.

MORGAN'S PROCESS.

"The preservation of meat by Mr. Morgan's process can hardly be said to have progressed beyond the stage of experiments, which have, however, been attended by the most signal success, and it is a source of regret that the working of the system should not have been more actively followed up, as all samples of the

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meat already forwarded to Liverpool have been eagerly purchased.

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Since the month of May of last year, when operations were commenced, 500,000 lbs. of beef and mutton have been shipped to Liverpool, and met with a ready sale at 4d. per lb. "This price, it is calculated, will be barely remunerative, owing to the heavy expenses attendant on the establishment of a new business, but it is believed that that price will leave a fair profit when once the working is esta blished; particularly so should the company adopt a plan, suggested by Mr. Williams, of having vessels fitted up expressly for the purpose, dividing the hold into four compartments or tanks, thus rendering unnecessary the use of barrels, which at present are the heaviest item of costs.

"The meat has hitherto arrived in England sound and good; and I am enabled from personal experience to testify to the admirable quality of the samples I tasted, which were inviting and palatable, the beef bearing a close resemblance to our English corn beef.

"Mr. Morgan's process is based on forced infiltration, and he has adopted the circulatory system of the body as a means of introducing the brine into the tissues.

"The method is simple, demands but little labour, and no expensive machinery.

"The animal, if a sheep, is killed by a blow on the head; if an ox, by the insertion of the point of a knife at the back of the head, which severs the spinal cord, and causes instantaneous death. The chest is then sawn open, and kept so by a cross piece of wood, and the heart is exposed. An incision is made in the right ventricle, and another in the left, the blood being allowed to escape; when it has ceased flowing, a pipe with a stopcock is introduced into the incision in the left ventricle of the heart, and so into the aorta or great vessel leading through the body, and is there firmly retained.

"This pipe is connected by a gutta percha flexible tube to a barrel containing the fluid to be injected, which is composed of water and salt (one gallon of brine to the cwt.) and a quarter to half a pound of nitre, carefully refined, and fixed at an altitude of from eighteen to twenty feet.

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the right side of the heart, after traversing all the circulatory organs, clearing the vessels and capillaries, and preparing the body for the second stage, which is performed by closing the incision in the right side of the heart with a sliding forceps, and thereby rendering the cir culatory system perfect, with the vessels free and ready to receive the preservative fluid.

"A few seconds suffice for the brine to infuse the whole body, when, by cutting the ear or hoof of the animal, a stream of clear pure brine untainted by a single particle of blood will instantly be seen to flow.

"An ox can be preserved in ten minutes, the pressure of the injection being from 10 to 12 lbs. to the square inch, and from 12 to 14 gallons of the fluid are injected; of course considerably less in a sheep.

"The superiority of the meat as cured by Mr. Morgan's system over that preserved by the external use of salt consists in the retention of the natural juices and alimentary substances; and the elements of vegetables, as anti-scorbutics, can be artificially added to the flesh in the form of phosphoric acid mixed in the fluid to be injected. The potash salts found in flesh juice and abstracted by the action of the brine can also be added, if found desirable, by nitrate of potash.

"The meat when cured is packed in barrels containing about 220 lbs. each, which can be purchased at Liverpool for the sum of 31. 15s.

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"Mr. Irving, 86, Albany, Old Hall-street, Liverpool, is the agent to the company which has lately been formed, and which is called the Morgan Patent Meat-Preserving Company (Limited).'

"This company has purchased Mr. Morgan's right, and commissioned Mr. Williams to undertake the curing of the meat in this country.

"Mr. Williams has devoted a lifetime to that particular branch of industry as practised in the Saladeros of this country, and no one, it would appear, could be better qualified for the duties entrusted to him; moreever, his great experience in these matters guarantees to the public that all articles of food shipped by him to the European market will have been properly cured, and in every way fit for human consumption.

"A medical gentleman of great talent, Dr.

Fleury, has been specially sent from England to superintend the working of the establishment, which is situated in the Republic of the Uruguay, on the banks of the river of that name, and in the vicinity of the town of Paysandu."

LIEBIG'S PROCESS.

"Not many leagues distant from this spot, and situated on the banks of the same river, near the small town of Fray-Bentos, is the establishment for the working of Baron Liebig's 'Extractum Carnis.'

"This process differs essentially from that employed by Mr. Morgan, for the meat, instead of being preserved whole, is reduced to an essence, and can consequently only be used as soup or stock. Its strength can be estimated

from the fact that 33 lbs. of meat are reduced to 1 lb. of essence, which is sufficient to make broth for 128 men. A tin containing 1 lb. of this extract can be sold in London for 12s. 6d.

"Eight small tins will hold the concentrated alimentary matter of an entire ox, at a price of 96s., and will make over 1,000 basins of soup, good strong soup; one teaspoonful to a large cup of water, and eaten either alone or with the addition of a little bread, potato, and salt, affords a good repast.

"The small bulk taken up by this excellent preparation recommends it especially to the army and navy; and its purity and entire absence from grease particularly adapt it to the use of hospitals and invalids.

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Hitherto the almost exclusive exportation of this excellent extract has been to Germany, where its consumption is already very great; but a new company ('Liebig's Extract of Meat Company (Limited), 43, Mark Lane), is about to be formed in London, when it is hoped. that this new article of food will be generally appreciated and adopted.

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"The meat of the animal, after being killed, is allowed to cool for twenty-four hours; it is then placed in round iron rollers (armed inside with points), which, being revolved by steam, reduce the meat to a pulp. This pulp is thrown into a large vat with water, and allowed to steam for an hour, and is then passed into a reservoir (shaped like a trough with a sieve at the bottom), from whence the liquid of the meat oozes into another vat, from whence the fat is drawn off. The pure gravy is then put into open vats supplied with steam-pipes, and with bellows on the surface which produce a blast and carry off the steam, thus helping the evaporation and preventing condensation. Here it remains from six to eight hours, when it is passed into a filtering vat and drawn off in the form of extract of meat; when cool it partially hardens, and is ready for packing in tins, and exportation."

SLOPER'S PROCESS.

"The remaining process to be described is one of great interest, and has been lately patented by Messrs. McCall and Sloper.

"The patent has been conceded for the whole of South America to Messrs. E. Paris and B. S. Sloper, who are at present at Buenos Ayres actively employed in making experiments, when, should they prove successful, a company will be formed in England for the working of this industry.

"These gentlemen profess to be able to preserve meat in its fresh and raw state, which is to arrive in England, or elsewhere, in the exact condition as butcher's meat just killed, and be able to dispose of it at the rate of 4d. to 5d. per lb.; and that moreover when taken out of the air-tight tins in which it is to be packed, and on being exposed in the air, it will keep twice as long as ordinary butcher's meat.

"The curing process is simple, and is based on the destruction of oxygen from the vessel in which the meat is packed. All bone is extracted from the meat, but the fat is left.

"From the tins in which it is placed the air is exhausted by means of water forced in at the bottom, which, when it reaches the top, is allowed to redescend and run off, and the vacuum thus left is filled from above by a certain gas, the composition of which is kept a profound secret. The two holes at top and

bottom are carefully soldered down, and the meat is then ready for exportation. The only risk it runs is from leakage, the smallest opening in the tin case proving destructive by allowing the gas to escape, and the air to get in.

"Messrs. Paris and Sloper, on their arrival in April last at Buenos Ayres, gave an entertainment to the Vice-President of the Argentine Republic, to the members of the Government, and other gentlemen, with a view to their tasting some samples of beef they had brought out with them from England, and which they had cured six months previously. The tins on being opened were found to contain joints in first rate condition, and on their being cooked, no difference could be detected from freshly killed meat.

"Most sanguine hopes are formed for the success of this important discovery, and it is expected that from 10,000 to 12,000 lbs. of beef, now ready and cured on this principle, will next month be despatched to England to satisfy the promoters of the projected company in London that the working of this process is practicable; for although having proved successful in England, the same experiments have been thought necessary to be tried in this country, in order to judge the result on the cattle of South America, and also the effect of the heat of the voyage and crossing the line on the samples sent.

"Messrs. Paris and Sloper trust, on their return to London, to be allowed to give a dinner at Guildhall on this River Plate beef."

VAGRANCY.

Reports on Vagrancy made to the President of the Poor Law Board by Poor Law Inspectors. MR. EDWARD GULSON, Poor-law inspector, reported from Teignmouth that the total number of vagrants admitted at each workhouse in his district, in the first six months, from January to the 1st June, 1865, was 11,285. The greatest number admitted in one night was in St. Peter's, Bristol, 20. The number of cubic feet for each vagrant varied from 135 in Keynsham, in Somersetshire, to 1,650 in Tiverton. In St. Anstell, Cornwall, and Keynsham, the accommodation was insufficient. In three places there was no accommodation at all. In three unions there were no separate wards

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specially for the accommodation of vagrants; the receiving wards being used for the purpose when necessary. The return also shows that in all the unions in this district, except Redruth, a task of work was required (or nominally required) from each able-bodied vagrant. This work consisted chiefly of pumping water, breaking stones, or picking oakum. The inspector greatly doubted, however, whether this requirement of work was regularly enforced by all masters of workhouses. thought, in some instances, they were too glad to get rid of vagrants without the trouble of strictly requiring the task of work which ought to be rigidly exacted. The food given consisted of six, seven, or eight ounces of bread, and, in most unions, 1 pint of gruel on admission at night, and a similar quantity of the same kind of food in the morning before the vagrants leave. In fourteen unions in his district police constables were employed as assistant relieving officers for the purpose of relieving vagrants; and at Bath the borough police take charge of, and provide in all respects for vagrants who apply for relief, without sending them to the workhouse. As regards the state of vagrancy in this district, the returns show the extent to which it prevails. The inspector's inquiries led him to believe that the number of vagrants has rather increased of late in the West of England, especially in those unions in which large towns are comprised.

Mr. Hawley reported that forty-three unions were provided with vagrant wards, which was sufficient, and that in seven there were none.

The articles generally used in the dietaries of the vagrant wards are bread, cheese, gruel, and milk and water, and in two or three instances tea and coffee are given, but the quantities allowed vary so much in the different unions as to render it impracticable to classify them as dietaries under any particular heads, and I am consequently obliged to refer you to the tabular form for the details. When bread alone is given, the quantity ranges between six and sixteen ounces; 6 oz. is given in four unions, 7 oz. in one, 8 oz. in five, 12 oz. in two, 13 oz. in one, and 16 oz. in ten. and cheese are also given in addition to bread in several of the unions. In two of the unions 2 pints of gruel are given, in one 14 pints, in three 1 pint, in eight, pint, and in four no

Gruel

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