View report page

175
premises. These bye-laws require, among other things, that the walls
of the slaughter-house, including doors and wood-work generally,
shall be covered, to the height of at least six feet, with some impermeable
material, and that the floor shall be smooth and jointless. It is
further required that the grating over the trap of the drain-inlet shall be
a fixture. This requirement also appears to have been complied with.
But at several of the premises the requirement that a trough shall be
provided for supplying wholesome water to the animals in the pens or
lairs had not been carried out. Nor did it appear that duplicate sets of
covered receptacles for containing blood, offal, garbage, filth, etc.,
had been provided, as necessary, seeing that these offensive matters are
now to be conveyed from the premises in the containing vessels. This
matter will henceforth have to be considered with reference to the
provisions of the bye-laws of the County Council, which received the
sanction of the Local Government Board at the end of June."
Some defects in management were observed by the Committee
at certain of the licensed premises : the licensees were
duly cautioned, and a copy of the report which detailed the
defects in question, was by order of the Committee forwarded
to the County Council. The licenses of two of the 19
slaughter-houses inspected by the Committee (one in each
district) lapsed in October: one was not applied for ; in the
other case the business had been discontinued.
It may be mentioned that it 1874 there were some 1,500
slaughter-houses in the Metropolis ; in 1893 only 525, and
12 fewer than in 1892. In Kensington 48 were licensed
in 1873, the year before the passing of the Slaughter-houses
(Metropolis) Act; in 1874 only 31. The present number is
15. No new slaughter-house has been opened in the parish
since 1874. The defect of the Act, which was repealed by the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891, was that it ignored the
Sanitary Authorities (Vestries and District Boards) whose
Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors should
have been made available for the purposes of inspection
and supervision : such inspection and supervision, however,
have been kept up in Kensington, with obvious advantage,
although your Vestry had no statutory authority, and no power