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pieces of meat unfit for human consumption. Some parts of the tubercular carcases had undoubtedly
been sold prior to the seizure." A prosecution was ordered, but the defendant absconded and could
not be found. Poplar, 3 bullocks' cheeks; St. Saviour, Southwark, 4 hind quarters of beef, 14
forequarters of beef, 1 side of bacon; St. George-the-Martyr, 3 cwt. of bacon; Newington, 17
calves' heads, 87 pieces of beef and 86 pieces of mutton (prosecution of five persons and penalties
inflicted of over £23); St. Olave, 22 tons 8 cwt. of bacon; Bermondsey, among the articles seized
were 78 barrels of liver, from which it was intended to prepare a cheap extract of meat (prosecution
and penalties of £50); Lambeth, 114 lbs. of bacon, and 112 lbs. of beef and mutton (prosecution of
two persons, penalties of £39); Camberwell, G seizures.
The small amount of the meat seized in London is no doubt due to the fact that much of the
meat which is consumed in London is not inspected at the time of slaughter. The conditions
existing in London give ample opportunity for the admission into the metropolis and for the sale of
meat which cannot be sold in other parts of the country. With respect to meat killed in London,
it is obvious there can be no efficient inspection of meat at the time of slaughter while the killing
is conducted in numerous private slaughterhouses. In providing an adequate system of meat
inspection in London, the first step is to ensure that all meat killed in London is inspected at the
time of slaughter, and it is a practical impossibility to make provision for this inspection until
private slaughter-houses have ceased to exist, and all animals intended for the food of man are
slaughtered in public slaughter-houses.
The subject of meat inspection was before the Public Health Committee in 1897, on a report
on this subject (see Appendix II.) and again on the consideration of the recommendations of the late
Royal Commission on tuberculosis. The following report was presented by the Committee to the
Council—
We have for some time been under an instruction from the Council to report as to the desirability of
establishing public slaughter-houses throughout London, and as to the facilities which such a system
would afford for the better inspection of the meat supply.
Since this instruction was given the medical officer has made careful inquiry into the subject, and
has utilised such opportunities as holidays have given for the purpose of visiting, among other cities on
the continent, Berlin, Leipsic, Halle, Hamburg, Brussels, and Copenhagen, and in making himself
acquainted with the system they have adopted for ensuring a wholesome meat supply to the inhabitants.
He has also, with the same object, visited Edinburgh, Glasgow, Carlisle, Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield,
Manchester, Liverpool, and Birkenhead.
In the summer of last year the medical officer submitted his report on the subject, in which he
showed the inadequacy of the inspection of meat consumed in London, and pointed out that diseased
meat was largely received into London, and that for the protection especially of the poorer inhabitants,
who are the purchasers of the cheaper meat, it was necessary that a system of inspection of all dead
meat introduced into London, and which had not been examined in a public slaughter-house, should be
instituted. In order to ensure the inspection of meat killed in London, he considered it absolutely
necessary that all animals should be killed in public slaughter-houses, in which alone due inspection of
the meat is practicable. It is true that by far the greater number of such animals are killed in the
slaughter-houses of the Corporation of the City of London at Deptford and Islington, but information
obtained from occupiers of private slaughter-houses, of which there are some 450 in London, shows that
in winter some 900 beasts, 7,000 sheep, and 900 pigs, and in summer some 800 beasts, 11,000 sheep, and
500 pigs are killed per week in these premises.
The systematic inspection of these animals is, of course, impossible in view of the numerous premises
in which they are killed. The medical officer expressed the opinion that in discontinuing the use of
private slaughter-houses which, with the exception of a few in the City, are now annually licensed by
the Council, it is desirable to afford butchers the opportunity of killing animals in some half-dozen public
slaughter-houses owned by the Council. These slaughter-houses, he shows, should be within convenient
reach of the butchers' shops, and in railway communication with the principal cattle markets outside
London as well as with the cattle market at Islington. His report suggests localities and indicates the
areas in London for which they would be available. In formulating this scheme he states that he has,
through the courtesy of the statistical officer, had the assistance of Mr. Reid, of the statistical department,
whose knowledge of railway communication has been very valuable. Appended to the medical
officer's report is an explanatory memorandum by Mr. Reid, showing, in connection with a map, the
sites proposed and the railway communications between these sites and the markets, and the working
arrangements and running powers of the several companies concerned. The medical officer anticipates
that, when butchers have learned by experience the conveniences which they will enjoy from the use of
the slaughter-houses and cooling rooms in connection therewith, these places will provide an acceptable
alternative for the private slaughter-houses, which should, he considers, then cease to exist. He thinks
that the first step should be to require that all animals slaughtered in London shall be killed in public
slaughter-houses, and that stations should subsequently be provided for the examination of all meat
killed in other parts of the country and not already subjected to inspection in public slaughter-houses.
Since this report has been received we have had before us the report of the Royal Commission on
Tuberculosis, which with respect to meat contains the following paragraphs—
" 29. Believing, as we do, that the use of public slaughter-houses in populous places, to the
" exclusion of all private ones, is a necessary preliminary to a uniform and equitable system of
" meat inspection, we desire to point out that we consider that power should be given to every
" local authority expending money in providing a public slaughter-house, to close, if they think fit,
" all or any of the registered slaughter-houses in the district."
" 31. In every district in which a public slaughter-house has been provided, it will be possible
" for the local authority to ensure the inspection of the carcases of all animals killed within it.
" There will still remain the need for inspection of carcases brought from other districts where the
" animals have been killed. We think that every local authority should be prepared to receive into
" its district, without further inspection, meat which, having been killed in the public slaughter"
house of another authority, has already been subjected to inspection and approved, and which
" bears sufficient evidence of such approval. But every local authority should be empowered to
" provide in its district one or more stations, and to require meat to be brought there for inspection
" which has not been previously inspected elsewhere. Foreign meat should, we think, also be
" required to bear mark of inspection and approval at the time of killing, and steps should be taken
" through consular and other agencies to ascertain from time to time that there was efficient
" inspection at foreign slaughter-houses of meat intended for transmission to this country."
The recommendations under the heading of meat include the following—