able to award the prize, although, in point of fact, the method
of refrigeration, which was eventually to ensure abundant
supplies both here and elsewhere, had already been successfully
ittempted.
In these early days, Australia seems to have led the way in
practical experiments. The first successful method of shipping
the flesh was that of canning, and Australian canned products
were exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851. Following
Liebig’s discoveries, extract of meat was also successfully
prepared and exported. Used, at first, mainly by ships, by the
year 1867 canned meats had become known on the English
market, and, from that -time, have been regularly imported.
Even to-day, when large quantities of frozen and chilled meat
reach our shores, there is a large trade in canned meats from
all the great meat-surplus countries. With the extension of
refrigerating facilities even to the smaller cargo vessels, and
with the opportunities of restocking from cold storage which are
available to vessels at most of the great ports, canned meats are
no longer an inevitable part of the dietary of a voyage, but they
are still an important item of international commerce. At first
they were relatively unsuccessful because they were not a sub-
stitute for fresh (i.e., home-killed or refrigerated) beef; now
shat fresh beef can be so readily transported, they remain in
demand because they are not so much a substitute as an alter-
native ministering to a different need. Frozen meat for millions
of people is the dinner-table joint and does not have to face the
competition of the tinned article; it is rather the bacon and
ham of the breakfast table, or the meal carried to the mine or
factory, which feels this competition. Canned meats are still, of
course, an important item in ships’ stores, and as the ideal
emergency ration whether on board ship, on the battlefield, or
in the home, they are likely to retain a position of importance
whatever may be the developments of the fresh meat trade.
Moreover, as the demand is likely to continue, so the supply
from countries which export fresh meat is likely to be assured,
for canning provides an outlet (1) for cuts which are not in local
demand; (2) for the parts trimmed off in dressing-meat either
for export or for the local market, and (3) for beef and mutton
which are not up to the quality required for the frozen meat
trade, e.g., the ‘canners” in the United States and South
American markets. Where meat-extract is specially prepared
and is not merely the by-product of the freezing works, canning
is also, as a rule, carried on. At times of low prices in the pro-
ducing countries, the existence of canning outlets frequently
helps to improve the producers’ returns; in the case of mutton,
for example, the legs, for which there is always a good demand
in this country, can be cut off and, if not sold locally, or if local
demand is unsatisfactory, can be frozen and shipped, the rest
of the carcase being canned—the process providing canned
meat, meat extract and tallow. thus spreading the supply over
more than one demand