Meaty topic for historical society talk
Chaotic start for frozen exports in 1882
The Kapiti Historical Society’s second talk of the year will be given by Ian Marsden, former senior engineer For Waitaki NZ Refrigerating Ltd, New Zealand’s first and largest freezing company until its demise in 1989.
His topic “A Century of Meat and Mayhem” will be illustrated by slides and numerous stories.
“One of the most important events in New Zealand’s economic history was the first shipment of frozen meat to Britain on the SS Dunedin in 1882,” the society’s Roger Childs said.
“The cargo included thousands of mutton, lamb and pig carcasses, as well as 250 kegs of butter; hare, pheasants, turkeys and chicken, and 2226 sheep tongues.
“But it didn’t all go according plan.”
The fascinating and chaotic history of the meat industry includes such mysteries as:
When is a teaspoon of glue worth $5,000,000?
How can a paint can reproduce itself?
What happens when banks start
talking to each other?
What happened after a freezing works was opened four times in three weeks?
“See if you can guess any of the answers, then come along and find out if you were right.”
Speakers in the next two months will be Jim Bolger on whether history repeats and political reminiscences on Tuesday, May 10 and Owen Mapp on his life as a bone / ivory carver on Tuesday, June 14.
For more information on the Ka¯piti Historical Society, contact Roger Childs at pamandroger.childs@gmail. com or Gordon Dickson at glengords@gmail.com