New Zealand, Christchurch Meat Co. Seal, C.M.C

Christchurch Meat Co. Seal, Image by StuE, Found by Garry J.
Found in Yorkshire.

C.M.C. on one side in raised letters. The markings on the other side are obscured by rusted wire protrusions and stains. CANTERBURY across the middle and possibly CHRISTCHURCH curved around the top.

The history of the Christchurch Meat Company is an even better illustration of the enormous value of Canterbury's natural resources. It was started in 1889; and the chief efforts of the company have always been devoted to the utilisation of “by products,” and to the accommodation of the small sheep farmers. Starting with a capital of £33,000, it has grown till its subscribed stock is valued at £140,000, and the combined works handle over one million carcases per annum. The Christchurch Company's Works, at Islington, can put through 9000 sheep a day, and have a storage of 140,000; the works at Smithfield (Timaru) can put through 6000 daily, and store 120,000; the works at Picton can put through 2000 daily, and store 35,000. The daily freezing capacity of all the twentyfive refrigerating works for both islands of New Zealand, amounts to 52,700; and of these, the Christchurch Company's works can account for 17,000, or about one-third of the whole. The company's business is stated to consist in “the killing and freezing of cattle, sheep, lambs, and pork, the killing and preserving of beef and mutton, the manufacture of tallow and olio, patent fertilisers, glue, and gelatine, the fellmongering of skins, and the curing of pelts, all of these being prepared for export.” On such a subject independent testimony from outsiders is always valuable; and the following extract from the “Australasian” of the 10th of June, 1899, on the subject of the Christchurch Meat Company, may serve to give some idea of the importance of this industry to Canterbury, and, indeed, to the whole colony: “The thing that most of all arrested attention was the manner in which all refuse, even to the last shred, is utilised in the manufacture of byproducts. The words ‘waste’ and ‘refuse’ are absolutely unknown. Everything is the raw material for some useful commodity, and it is said that it is largely out of these by-products that the profit is made. Several qualities of tallow are turned out, fertilisers of a high quality are made from the blood, bones, and other materials; the very cuttings from the pelts are made into a first-class glue which is rapidly displacing the best Russian in the local market. The casks are all made by machinery on the works from local timber, as are the thousands of packing cases used annually for the sheeps' tongues and other preserved meats. There is even a department with cutting and sewing machines and a printing press, where bags for the frozen sheep are made, and brands printed on them. The company's direct wages bill is £53,000 a year. Its output last year (1898) was just under one million sheep and lambs, 9000 bales of wool, 7000 casks of tallow, and 4000 tons of fertilisers. The railway bill for last season's operations amounted to £22,000. Workmen are provided with comfortable homes, which they may rent or purchase from the company. There is a recreation hall for the use of themselves and their families, and a lending library, with a good stock of standard works. If all this were done by the Government, it would be blazoned from one end of the world to the other, but as a mere matter of ordinary business it passes unnoticed. It is an object lesson which gives us at a glance, the whole secret of New Zealand's prosperity,” To these observations the following extract from the Jubilee number of the Christchurch “Weekly Press” may be fitly appended: “In none of the other colonies has the frozen meat industry been so successfully developed as in New Zealand, and no part of this colony has come up to Canterbury in the volume or quality of its meat, for she sends away fully onehalf of the annual output, and her mutton and lamb still stand at the head of the weekly market quotations. What the position of New Zealand, and particularly of Canterbury, would have been without the frozen meat industry it is difficulty to realise. We are basking in prosperity, now that we can turn off a large quantity of ‘Prime Canterbury’ from the plains; but there is no doubt that farmers would have had to face very hard times, if not an intense struggle for existence, if they had been compelled to go on in the old method of growing wheat, oats, and wool.”'
More information here:-
The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Original New Zealand frozen meat companies:-
From A History of the Frozen Meat Trade by James Troubridge Critchell and Joseph Raymond, Constable & Co. Ltd. 1912.
"The first enterprise of the kind [meat freezers & shippers] was the New Zealand Refrigerating Co., which was formed in 1881 with freezing works at Burnside, near Dunedin, and a few years afterwards at Oamaru. This concern, though the pioneer company, never reached any great proportions. For some time the directors endeavoured to carry on purely a freezing business ; in later years they developed into a buying company. The Dunedin works were the first in New Zealand ...
The second company to be formed was the Canterbury Frozen Meat and Dairy Produce Co. with a capital of 20,000. The names on the circular convening the meeting on November 11, 1881, which led to the formation of the company, were ... There was the inevitable " battle of the sites," and Lyttelton itself beingimpossible, they selected Belfast, an excellent location, as it proved. A Haslam refrigerating machine of 40,000 cubic feet cooling capacity was ordered. The company was fortunate in getting as its architect and engineer Mr. Frank Coxon, now of Sydney. ... Slaughtering began on February 16, 1883, and in April the first shipment was made from Belfast on the s.s. British King. Curiously enough, this vessel was built at Belfast, Ireland, and she was commanded by Captain Kelly, of Belfast, while Mr. John Cooke [a director of the company] was born in Belfast, a somewhat remarkable chain of circumstances. ... The company's leading brands are " C F M Co " and " Diamond." ... In 1809 the company established works at Fairfield, Ash burton. Works at Pareora, South Canterbury, were opened on April 7, 1904 ; these have a capacity of 4,500 sheep and lambs per day, and storage space equal to over 100,000 carcasses. ...
The next freezing concern to be registered in New Zealand was the Gear Meat Preserving and Freezing Co. of New Zealand. This was formed in November, 1882, for the purpose of acquiring the butchering and meat preserving business of the late Mr. James Gear, at Wellington, in the North Island. ...
The operations of Nelson Brothers have been alluded to ; their works were first erected at Tomoana, and afterwards at Waipukurau and Woodville. The company now has two establishments in the Hawke's Bay district Tomoana and Gisborne. Woodville has been sold to a bacon-curing company, and Waipukurau is dismantled. The daily
killing capacity and the sheep storage of these works are respectively 6,100 and 160,000. Messrs. Nelson Brothers also have works at Hornby, Canterbury district. The company built the Ocean Beach works at the Bluff, now owned by Messrs. Birt and Co., Ltd., of London. ...
The Christchurch Meat Co. In 1888 it was made quite clear that many producers were dissatisfied with the system of consigning their meat to London for sale, and that they wished to determine their risks by selling their stock alive to a freezing company or a speculative exporter. [They formed] the Christchurch Meat Co., Ltd., a concern established to conduct the business on new methods."