Story: History

Gear Meat Company labels, 1890–1920

Gear Meat Company labels, 1890–1920

One development which helped eventually lift New Zealand out of the economic depression of the 1880s was the success in 1882 of shipping frozen meat to Britain. Overseas markets for butter and cheese also opened up. New Zealand farming flourished and links with Britain – the main market – became stronger. At the Gear meat works in Wellington meat was frozen, and also canned, for export. These labels are for some of the firm’s tinned meat products.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: Eph-F-MEAT-Gear-018

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

John Wilson, 'History - War, expansion and depression', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/1462/gear-meat-company-labels-1890-1920 (accessed 28 March 2024)

Story by John Wilson, updated 1 Apr 2020