3 JUNE 1882, Page 3

A great feat has been accomplished by " the Bell

Coleman Mechanical Refrigeration Company," in bringing over the car- cases of 5,000 sheep, at a temperature of 20° below zero, all the way from New Zealand, in the vessel ' Dunedin,' belonging to the Albion Shipping Company,—that very low temperature having been maintained through a voyage of ninety-eight days, a fair portion of which was under a tropical sun. The meat is said to be in as fine condition as though it had been English mutton. The Agent-General of New Zealand, who writes an interesting letter on the subject to Monday's Times, asserts that last year New Zealand had more land laid down in English grasses than all Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and South Aus- tralia put together, and that New Zealand can send us plenty more mutton in the same way. But what he does not tell us, and what is of the first importance, is the cost at which the mutton can be offered in the English market, after all the ex- penses of import and refrigeration have been fully paid. That is the question on which the commercial significance of this remarkable feat must depend.