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from accident or other causes. The total amount seized was 9G2 tons, giving a proportion of
one ton in 427 tons entering file markets. Beyond the boundary of the City in Holborn (now in
Fins bury) lie premises in which a large trade in meat is carried on. In Holborn 1,249 stone of
diseased and 1,615 stone of decomposed meat was seized during the year 1900 to the 9th November,
when the transfer to Finsbury of the area chiefly concerned in this matter took place. In the
period from the 9th November to the end of the year further seizures occurred of which account
is given in Dr. Newman's report relating to Clerkenwell. The seizures of meat in Islington
come next in importance. In this district 6½ tons of meat, mostly unsound, were seized in
butchers' shops, and 10¾ tons of meat, mostly diseased, were seized in private slaughter-houses, of
which there are 44 in the district. The amount of meat seized in any of the other districts bears
no comparison with the amount seized in Islington. The large amount seized in Islington is
interesting in connection with the fact that an inspector, apnointed especially for this purpose,
endeavours to inspect at the time of slaughter the animals which are killed in these slaughterhouses.
To make inspection at such time, as Dr. Harris points out, is not an easy task, " especially
when slaughtering is for the most part confined to two days in the week, and is consequently
carried on simultaneously in many places." In Islington, it will be seen, attempt is being made
to secure for the public protection against the sale of diseased meat in the same way as if the
animals had been killed in a public slaughter-house.
The reports of medical officers of health show that in Fulham one seizure of meat was
made; in St. Pancras, 3 livers, 25 lbs. of beef and 7 lbs. of mutton; in Hackney, 25¾ cwts. of meat;
in St. Luke, 516 lbs. of meat, with a few livers and sheep's heads; in Shoreditch, of mutton 3 legs,
11 necks and 2 pieces, of beef 9 legs, pork and mutton 2½ cwt., beef and mutton in joints ½ ton;
in Bethnal Green, over 3 cwt. of meat; in Limehouse, 2 cwt. of meat; in St. George-the-Martyr,
13 rib pieces; in Newington, sheep's heads, beef and mutton; in St. Olave, 9 pieces of beef and 1
of mutton; in Lambeth, 23 lbs. of meat; in Camberwell, there were 11 seizures; in Battersea
some pork was seized.
In my last report I showed how readily, under existing circumstances, meat unfit for food
can enter London, and how meat was supplied from a knacker's premises in a provincial town to
a cat's meat vendor in London who was convicted of supplying for human consumption meat
unfit for human food. The report of the chief sanitary inspector of Bethnal Green, appended
to the annual report of the medical officer of that district, contains the following statement—
" With the assistance and permission of your Committee I have been enabled to again get on the
track of some of those persons who were prosecuted and very heavily fined about a year ago for selling
and using for human food stuff that was purchased from a cat and dog's meat dealer, having premises
(a railway arch) in an adjacent parish. Although two fines of £50 each were then imposed, I had
reason some time since to suspect that this filthy trade had only been diverted, not in any way stopped,
so far, at least, as the prime movers were concerned. After weeks of enquiry and a considerable amount
of difficulty, I ascertained that railway and other waggons were again delivering consignments of
exactly similar parcels to those reported a year ago. Careful observation kept on the premises abovementioned,
which are situate in the district of a neighbouring authority over our southern boundary,
showed that a more extensive trade than ever was being carried on. For a time I was unable to get
clear evidence of what was done with the stuff so delivered. Sausage manufacturers, and makers of
various seductive, if unwholesome, relishes, seemed one and all to have deserted the place; not one of
them came near ; but what was more suspicious to me, not a single barrow of cat's meat left the
place, neither was a genuine cat's meat man seen to enter. I was about to give the matter up for a
time, when a lucky accident solved the mystery, and we ascertained that the stuff was removed in a
most roundabout and surreptitious manner to a small private house, then in a parish over our northern
boundary, but now in our own district, from whence it was fetched, not by cat's meat men, but by
makers of sausages and other mysterious things, who came from the adjoining districts. I communicated
with the officers of the several authorities concerned, and placed an agent and my information
at their disposal, with the result that one butcher in the Hackney district was followed home with
a consignment, and as soon as it was at his shop it was seized by the sanitary officers and subsequently
condemned at the North London Police Court."
Seizures of other articles of food took place in Chelsea, Westminster, Hampstead, St.
Pancras, Strand, Hackney, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Whitechapel, St. George-in-the-East,
Limehouse, Poplar, St. George-the-Martyr, Paddington, St. James, Westminster, Marylebone,
St. Giles, St. Luke, City, Mile End Old-town, Newington, Clapham, Wandsworth, and Battersea.
The articles consisted for the most part of fruit, vegetables, rabbits, fish, bacon, eggs, and tinned
food of every description. The largest amount of fish destroyed was in the City, in which the
Billingsgate market is situated, and in which 769 tons of fish were dealt with. In some of the
districts the amount of tinned food seized was considerable. Thus in St. James, Westminster,
1,115 tons of food were seized, and the medical officer of health is of opinion that the material
would probably have been used iu cheap restaurants had the seizure not taken place. In
Limehouse a van load of potted meat was seized, in Hackney 270 tins of preserved food. In
Mile Eud Old Town there were numerous seizures of tinned food, and in one case it was found
that more than half the tinned lobster, salmon, and sardines in the shop were found to be unfit for
human consumption. Dr. Taylor, the medical officer of health of Mile End Old-town, also states
that it had come to his knowledge that a certain dealer in manure had been allowed to remove
tinned food as refuse from certain wholesale dealers, and strong suspicion was entertained that
some of the tins were finding their way elsewhere than to the rubbish heap. The cart of the
manure dealer was followed to a jam factory, which after a short interval was visited by the
sanitary inspector, who found blown tins of fruit being manufactured into " pure home-made
jam."
The usual practice is to seize tins which present signs of being " blown," but Dr.
Reginald Dudfield states that in a case which was subject of proceedings by the Paddington
Yestry, it was found that tins of condensed milk may be in a bad state of decomposition without
manifesting the " bulging " or " blowing " usually associated with decomposed tinned goods.