this last can be overcome, even with the first
named drawback, gas will not be found more expensive than coal. The cost
of wood, of sweeping the chimney, and the extra wear and tear occasioned
by the soot, smoke, and dust of a coal fire, must be calculated in
addition to the fuel itself.

It will be seen, when we say that the entire cooking for a small family
having late dinners, bread baked, and much water heated, is done for
something under 2 pounds a quarter, that gas as a fuel is not so great
an extravagance after all. The stove used has the oven lined with a
non-conducting substance, which has the advantage of keeping the heat
within instead of sending it into the kitchen, as stoves made only of
iron plates are apt to do. We have but space to add that the benefit to
health, the cleanliness, the saving of time, labour, and temper, to say
nothing of the superiority of cooking done by gas in such a stove as has
been described, can only be fully appreciated by those who, like the
writer, have had twenty years' experience of all these advantages.

NEW ZEALAND FROZEN MUTTON.

***

The high price at which meat has stood for some years has made it
necessary for the working classes to restrict themselves to a scanty
allowance of animal food, and this often of poor quality. The difficulty
of providing joints of meat for their families has, indeed, also been
felt severely by people who are comparatively well-to-do. Under these
circumstances capitalists have thought it worth a considerable
investment of money to discover some means of bringing the cheap and
magnificent supplies of New Zealand into the English market. After many
failures, success has at length crowned the enterprise, and nothing can
exceed the perfection in which New Zealand mutton is now placed on the
English market. It is universally admitted that the meat, both as
respects its nutritive value and its flavour, is unsurpassed, while the
price is very moderate. The same remarks apply to New Zealand lamb. It
commences to arrive in January, and is in the height of its season when
our English lamb is a luxury which can only be enjoyed by the few.

Nelson Brothers, Limited, stand foremost among the importers of this
invaluable food supply. The mutton and lamb selected by them is of the
highest quality, and their system of refrigeration is perfect. In summer
these New Zealand meats have a great advantage over the home supply, as
although in keeping they