Argentine was growing fast. The centre of gravity moved south- 
wards. In 1907, began the ‘ American invasion” of the 
Argentine and, except during the war period of phenomenal 
expansion, the United States ceased to be a serious contributor 
to our supplies of both frozen and chilled beef. In 1874, the 
amount exported was 1,095 cwt.; in 1913 it was back to 
1,462 cwt.; the American export trade had been transferred 
to the Argentine. 
(ii) Australia, New Zealand, South America.—Similar in the 
problem which confronted each, these three countries were in a 
different position from that of the United States, for all were, 
and the last two still are, primarily pastoral countries with 
comparatively small populations engaged in any occupation 
other than farming. Whereas, before the introduction of 
refrigeration, cattle-raisers in the United States had, at any rate, 
important domestic markets among the industrial populations in 
the east and the cotton growers in the south, producers in 
Australia, New Zealand and South America were compelled to 
look overseas to give their flocks and herds a value. Prior to 
1880, meat in these countries might almost be regarded as a 
by-product of the wool and skin trade; for local consumption, 
measured against supplies, was a very small factor. The routine 
followed, in general, was to skin the animal and consign the 
carcase to the tallow renderer. It is stated that, in 1850, for 
example, no less than 800,000 sheep and 73,000 cattle were 
rendered down, and that, at one works alone, 12,000 sheep were 
rendered down in four weeks. Apart from any question of 
food-wastage, these figures illustrate the limits imposed on 
pastoral industry by the circumstances of the time. Moreover, 
the market for tallow was not unlimited, so that a decrease in 
the value of hides and skins made the labour even of killing and 
skinning unprofitable, any increase in numbers becoming a 
liability which could only be met by slaughter and destruction. 
Even in New Zealand, where pasturage was abundant, this 
drastic method of dealing with superfluous stock had to be 
adopted on occasions. 
There was, however, a growing demand for meat in this 
country. Some indication of the increasing pressure on our 
meat supplies is given by the fact that during the thirty years 
from 1851 the population increased from under 28,000,000 to 
nearly 35,000,000, while the total number of cattle, sheep, and 
pigs in the country had declined to about 41,000,000. This 
pressure on an increasing demand on available supplies did 
not pass unnoticed, and evidence is plentiful that the subject 
provoked serious study and investigation in many quarters at 
this time. For instance, the Society of Arts, in 1866, appointed 
a committee to explore the problem of food supplies; one section 
of this committee gave special attention to meat. A prize of 
£100 was offered for the best method of preserving fresh meat, 
hut the Committee came to an end in 1881 without finding itself