Au[c]kland, Saturday morning, July 30/98.
Yesterday I did not go into the city till 12:30. We had lunch, & Mrs. Furness accompanied me, she having occasion to go into Au[c]kland. We went straight to Mr. Furnesse’s [sic] office, as we had an appointment at 1:30 to go through the Au[c]kland “Herald” printing offices. Mr. Sanderson had arranged this entertainment & much were we all interested, the whole establishment being well appointed & the machinery of the very latest. We saw the “moulding” process & also the printing machine in full operation where the paper comes out folded, ready for the news vendor. The process is by roller or cylinder & very rapid. Mr. J.W. Steel of the Newcastle Chronicle, some months ago whilst paying me a casual visit, explained the theory of this latest system & I was by this much helped in grasping the practical as we were pointed out the different processes from beginning to end. After leaving the works, we seperated [sic] & I viewed about during the remainder of the afternoon. All the morning had been wet, occasional heavy down pours. This is the NZ wet season, & during the afternoon, just about 4, I had gone into a café & while having tea, a tremendous hail storm passed over the city. I went to the door to see it. Large hail fell & in some parts lay a while, it being quite a rarety [sic]. Mr. Furness tells me it is only the second time he has seen hail since coming into the country, no snow. After this, & while on my way to spend an hour in the museum, I passed a very big butcher’s shop with a great stock of meat, & so attractive did it appear, I walked in to view, explaining I was a visitor & attracted with the display, [5:91] but they had more to show & asked if I would like to see their meat preserving works & refrigerator machinery, ice making &c. I readily answered, “yes, if agreeable”, & I was soon amazed on getting to the rear buildings where meat canning was going on in great measure, tin workshop, sausage factory, dripping refining &c. &c. The previous day they had killed 47 bullocks, 160 sheep, 35 pigs, besides veal & poultry. One record week they killed 243 bullocks & their average daily canning is 2,500 tins of various sizes, 1S to 6S [1]. They do a first class retail & sell only the best joints & cuts. The seconds are bought up by small butchers & the remainder the[y] can. All was as clean as a kitchen. The refrigerator was working & they have cool chambers for storing the meat so that nothing is wasted. It’s a common saying about meat preserving works, that the only thing about the sheep they don’t use up is the bleat. They invited me to visit their slaughter works about 2 miles away, & if I have opportunity, I will do so. Prices of fresh meat are low, half sheep 2d. per lb., & let me say, by far the finest mutton I have ever seen. You can tell Middleton this when you are next there, beef 2d. per lb., choicest cuts 5 to 6. These mean rump steak which cost ½d. per lb. at Berwick, chops dressed 4d. per lb. He shewed me a pile of mutton necks with beautiful meat on, reaching well to the shoulder. He popped one on to the scale. It weighed 12 lbs. & would go for 1/- the piece, no scrag[2] about them, as the breed of sheep have thick short necks. I did not reach the museum as I had to meet Mr. Furness at 5 to go home with the 5:10 bus. We got home at 5:45 & had to be at Mr. Sanderson‘s at 6. It is, as I said yesterday, only a very few yards away. We got there at 10 past, dined, & had a very happy night. Mr. & Mrs. F. , of course, were invited & instead of us having to go to Mr. & Mrs. Young’s – close by – Mr. & Mrs. Sanderson asked the Youngs to come along there, so we had a very pleasant company, seperating [sic] a little after 10. Mrs. Sanderson is cousin to Mr. W. Leask of Sydney on the [5:92] mother’s side, & a very genial lady she is – a very fine home with pretty child, daughter of 4, & who is named Leslie. We are booked for tea this afternoon with the Buddle family, where we spent a couple of hours on Wednesday night. It is very wet this morning & how it does rain here. No joke, being caught in a rain fall, & the roads here are so soft & muddy, street crossing is a consideration. People here seem quite at home in it, & I suppose I should soon take to it also.
[1] “S” for shillings? 1 to 6 shillings per can?
[2] A piece of lean or bony meat, especially a neck of mutton