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adds that "the abattoir is considered very advantageous to
the trade and also to the general public; animals are
slaughtered in it at a cheaper rate than in private slaughter
houses, not to speak of the greater cleanliness of the
process; the meat is decidedly cheaper in consequence of
the unusual facilities afforded in the abattoir. The public,
but especially the poor, are benefited, not only in the
cheapening of the food, but also in the form of sound wholesome
food. Without a public abattoir, in which all animals
used for food must be brought for inspection and to be
slaughtered, there cannot be a satisfactory inspection of
butchers' meat. If private slaughter houses are allowed, the
opportunities for deception are so great that no amount
of inspection can prevent the sale of meat from unsound
animals. In three years' time the rent of the Edinburgh
abattoir will have discharged the cost of its erection;
meanwhile the rents of the booths have been lowered to £8,
and several butchers may combine to rent a booth, and
the charge for each bullock is now l½d., for each sheep ¼d.,
and the entrails of the various animals, with the offal, feet,
&c., are cleaned by a staff of women, free of expense."
In view of this experience, as well as in the interests of
humanity and public health, it is to be hoped that neither
sanitary authorities nor the public will give their serious
adhesion to any project calculated to set aside one of the
most desirable sanitary enactments that has ever received
the sanction of the Legislature, viz.:—the clause in a
recent Act of Parliament which requires the abolition of
all private slaughter houses in the Metropolis after 1874.
The Disinfection of Bedding, Clothes, &c.—Constant
enquiries are being made by Societies, Sanitary Authorities,
and individuals known to take an interest in the above
matter, s to the arrangements in force in this District in
respect to disinfecting processes, and your Health Officers
much regret that they have never been in a position to
return very satisfactory replies; indeed all which seems to
be in their power now to do is to refer their querists to their