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35
Upon arrival at Wellington, I presented letters of introduction to Dr. C. J. Reakes, the Director
General of the Department of Agriculture, and desire here to place on record my appreciation of his
personal kindness and the facilities arranged by him which enabled me to prosecute very full enquiries
as to the conditions governing Meat Inspection in the Dominions.
For the purpose of carrying out the various Acts relating to Meat Inspection and for closer supervision,
New Zealand is divided into four distinct district organizations, with headquarters at Auckland,
Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, under the control of a District Superintendent, in each case
a Veterinarian.
During my visit I became personally acquainted with the Veterinary Superintendent of each
centre, each of whom did everything possible, not only to make my visit profitable but enjoyable.
Out of the forty.five Meat Export Slaughtering Establishments, I visited twenty, in addition
to the Public Abattoirs in the four centres. I was much impressed by the approach to some of these
Meat Works, which gave the impression that one was approaching a private residence—with its well.
kept lawns, flower beds, and borders—rather than Meat Export Works.
The slaughtering establishments are large spacious buildings, some of them with a killing capacity
of from two thousand to eight thousand sheep and two hundred head of cattle per day, some being built
on the two, others on the three.floor principle, the slaughtering being carried on on the upper floor.
Most of the works that have been built in recent years are either of brick or reinforced concrete, while
some of the old works are of wood; in the latter case the walls of the actual killing floors are lined with
galvanized iron to the height of several feet, whereas the floors in each case are of some impervious
material. Adjoining the killing floor is the cooling room, which is usually a large well ventilated apartment
in which the carcases are allowed to hang for several hours prior to being put into the freezing
chamber. The drainage on the whole was very good, in most cases the sewage was discharged into an
adjacent river or the sea, but where that was not possible, after passing over collecting tanks the
sewage was forced through pipes on to the land where it soaked into the soil. Generally speaking, the
cleanliness of these Establishments was all that could be desired, a fact that surprised me greatly in
view of the large quantities of sheep and cattle that are killed daily. By the side of each slaughterman on
the mutton floor are two holes, one through which the skin is dropped, through the other the head,
pluck and intestines, these being dealt with on the floor below. There is no accumulation of skins and
offal, and with a plentiful supply of water the floors are kept comparatively clean even when work is
going on. In most cases the butcher has by his side a tank with a constant supply of hot and cold
water for washing and cleaning the carcases. On some of the beef floors a brush is used, to which is
attached a hose, for washing down the vertebrae. Ample lavatory accommodation is provided for the
employees and in some of the works which have been recently built, bathrooms, supplied with showers,
and dressing rooms are provided. Facilities exist at all the meat export slaughterhouses for treating,
to the best advantage, the offal and by.products on the premises. The various operations carried on
under this heading, include the following:—meat canning, beef extract, tripe, tallow, pelts and slipe
wool, hides and manures. In nearly all cases I visited the various departments which I found extraordinarily
well kept, a feature that surprised me was how little effluvium existed, taking into consideration
the nature of the work. This is accounted for by the fact that all offals are dealt with immediately
after the animals are slaughtered.
The freezing and chilling rooms are similar to those in this country.
The methods of and preparation before slaughter are both for cattle and sheep the same (apart
from the fact that in some cases the animals are rested, under cover) as in this country. I will not,
therefore, go into unnecessary detail.
DISPOSAL OF THE CARCASES AND OFFAL.
The sides of beef, after they have been properly prepared, are sent by rail to the chilling room,
where they are allowed to hang until properly cooled, usually from six to twenty.four hours depending
on weather conditions, after which they are quartered, graded and labelled, they are then put into a
freezing chamber say at fifteen degrees Farenheit until hard frozen, when they are clothed and put
into stacks ready for export.
The carcases of mutton and lamb immediately after dressing are weighed. En route to the cooling
room they pass over a weighing machine which records the weight and automatically deducts 6 per cent,
to allow for shrinkage between hot weight and weight on arrival in this country, they are then graded
and labelled, each grade being sorted and placed on separate rails; in this way they are sent forward to
the cooling rooms, where they remain from six to twelve hours, after which they are taken to a freezing
chamber and kept at a temperature of about fifteen to twenty degrees Farenheit until hard frozen ;
when frozen they are bagged and taken to store rooms where they are stacked to await shipment.
OFFAL.
Every possible care is taken when dealing with the offal and by.products " that nothing be wasted"
and in justice to them, I am bound to admit their methods of utilizing everything to the best advantage
was an education to me. We might with advantage adopt the New Zealand system in this country.
DISPOSAL OF BYE.PRODUCTS.
Blood.—All animals are bled in one place and the blood collected in one tank ; it is ultimately
treated by a special process and dried for use as manure.
Hides.—After the hides are prepared, scrubbed, washed and sprayed, they are classified, and put
into stacks with dry salt between each hide ; here they are kept until sold. The hair from the tails is
washed, dried and exported.
Feet.—The feet are disposed of in various ways, the bones from them after being prepared
are used for knife and toothbrush handles. The tendons and hoofs go for making glue and from the
internal portions of the foot oil is extracted.