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103
Such damage might easily be prevented if arrangements could be made for
allowing these animals to remain longer at the port of export before slaughter,
or even by slaughtering them at the place where they were bred and forwarding
the carcasses with proper precautions by rail.
Of the unmarked carcasses a considerable proportion are still found diseased
and unfit for food, and it is much to be desired that the inspection be made
compulsory in all meat intended for shipment. Until this is the case it seems
inevitable that unsound animals, slaughtered where no skilled inspection is
available, or shipped by persons knowing their condition, will continue to
arrive. The matter is a very important one, and of great interest to the
trade, inasmuch as no less than 73½ per cent. of the pork imported comes
from Holland.
No sheep were received from Servia during the year, and unless better
methods of selection on the Continent and preservation in transit are adopted,
it is undesirable that they should be sent here.
The home-produced supplies continue to diminish, and we are more than
ever dependent upon Colonial and foreign meat.
On surveying the year's results, we find that the citizens have, on the
whole, been well provided with meat, while the producer has realised good
prices for good articles. The superabundance of second-class and imperfectly
prepared meat has been the most notable feature, and this in spite of poor
prices obtained for it. It is not surprising, therefore, that there is a lessened
demand for the home-grown product, and the reason for the deterioration, as
before mentioned, is probably in great part due to the large export to foreign
countries of our finest breed of cattle.
The several Cold-Air Stores and Wharves by the riverside have, until the
year under review, been visited by the Meat Inspectors when occasion arose or
when opportunity afforded, but the appointment of an Inspector for special
duty at wharves and for riverside work has resulted in their more regular and
systematic supervision, and the figures given on p. 119 show that the amount
of unsound food—chiefly tinned goods—removed from these places during
1904 was considerably above the average for previous years.
By arrangement with the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, referred
to in last year's Report, classes for instruction and examination of Naval
Officers in meat inspection have been held from time to time throughout the
year, and one Assistant Inspector of Victualling, seven Fleet Paymasters,
five Staff Paymasters, eight Paymasters, and one Assistant Paymaster have been
granted Certificates of competency.