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3. There is no public slaughterhouse but there are five registered
slaughterhouses in private ownership. There has been no alteration
in the number 01 ownership of these from 1920 to 1925.
As has already been stated, very little slaughtering is done in
the private slaughterhouses. In the twelve months, only one
beast, seven pigs and one sheep were killed and dressed. All were
stunned by means of a humane implement, that adopted latterly
being the Cash Captive-bolt Pistol which has been kindly lent by
the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
(c) Other Foods.—Bakehouses and cooked meat shops have
been inspected regularly. The exclusion of the latter from the
Public Health (Meat) Regulations is disconcerting. The premises
can be dealt with under the provisions of the Ealing Corporation
Act, similar provisions to which are now in the Public Health Act,
1925, but surely it is important to prevent the contamination of
cooked meat from dust and flies, in fact much more important than
the protection of raw meat which in the process of cooking may have
injurious contamination destroyed. It is to be hoped that the
Meat Regulations will be made to apply to all classes of cooked
meat and enable health officers to be consistent in their efforts to
protect the public.

Handling of Food.—Attention has very properly been recently
drawn to the question of the handling of all kinds of food and a
Joint Committee composed of representatives of the Royal Sanitary
Institute and the Society of Medical Officers of Health presented a
report on the subject to the Ministry of Health and made suggestions
with regard to legislation on the matter. This report, which gives
a valuable summary of the question, has been published by the