New Zealand, Canterbury Frozen Meat Company Seal, Image by StuE, Found by Bob Hoe.
Found near Belchamp Walter, Essex, 15 x 12mm, 3.6g.
Tab-like seal showing REFRIGERA(TION) / COMPA(NY) in two straight lines and curved upwards beneath CANTER(BURY). The other side has C.M. and an illegible number, possibly a date. Rusted remains indicate a wire binding to the goods.
This is most likely the seal of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company, the second meat freezing company to be formed in New Zealand for shipping mainly lamb to the U.K. and it was initiated at a meeting in 1881 (see below).
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."