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possess slaughter-houses to immediately abolish their private premises, and
to compel them to use public buildings. Not that all private slaughterhouses
are structures to be desire!, many are objectionable in construction
and situation; on the other hand, there exist some to which less objection can
be raised.
There is room at the present moment, no doubt, for increased stringency in
the conditions for the use of slaughter-houses, especially when situated in
crowded neighbourhoods, in immediate proximity to dwellings, sometimes
under houses or parts of houses, and occasionally below ground level, and with
sharp descents,—a stiffening of the structural requirements might be made
with advantage. So far as cleanliness is concerned there is as a rule little to
choose between private and public slaughter-houses; in the former the less
slaughtering makes it easy to keep the places clean, in the latter the greater
amount of slaughtering requires much greater labour to maintain cleanliness,
and this labour is accordingly provided on a larger scale. But scattered
private slaughter-houses largely increase the difficulties of supervision and
inspection of the slaughtering of animals and of the condition of the meat,
and one of the main objects of centralising slaughter-houses is to secure more
complete supervision and inspection of meat.
Now and then suspicious looking meat is met with that probably has formed
part of an animal slaughtered in a private slaughter-house that would not have
passed muster if the animal had been examined before, and the internal organs
examined during, slaughtering. Tuberculous cows are sometimes disposed of
in this manner, and seeing the number of cows in cowsheds that shew signs of
tuberculosis, these animals should be subjected to regular periodical veterinary
inspection and examination, with the object of preventing not only the distribution
of tuberculous milk but also the distribution of tuberculous meat. But
it would be of little use carrying out such inspection in London alone unless
it were extended to the country generally. This is an urgently needed
general reform.
It cannot be denied that the driving of animals through crowded thoroughfares
to private slaughter-houses is very objectionable on various grounds. One
effect of centralizing slaughter-houses and especially of placing them contiguous
to railway stations is to prevent the driving of animals through the
streets.
To briefly summarise the points, the combination and centralisation of
slaughter-houses at the principal Railway depots, would
(A) on the one hand,
1.—Enable better and more fully equipped buildings to be provided, more
or less remote from dwelling-houses.
2.— Prevent the necessity for driving animals through crowded thoroughfares
to the place of slaughter, and
3.—Greatly facilitate the supervision and inspection of animals and meat
before, during, and after slaughter, and
(B) On the other hand, it is urged by the cattle and meat trade that it
might tend to—