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31
the part of traders to evade the Regulations. This expectation
has been fairly well confirmed, by the way the traders
have co-operated with the Staff by sending in necessary
notices as to times of killing animals for food, as well as in
other ways calculated to assist rather than make more difficult
the work of the Council's Officers.
The practice of the Inspectors in all important instances
of diseased meat is to detain the same for the opinion of the
Medical Officer of Health, so that the amount or percentage
of bad meat tabulated herewith is a fairly accurate idea as
to the moderate amount of bad meat to be found in this
area.
Most of the animals killed here are sent to the Smithfield
Market, this applying more particularly to pigs and
hogs, but little has been heard of any carcase failing to pass
inspection there.
The experience of working the Regulations discloses the
need of definite power for the inspector to detain any suspected
carcase for 12 hours for a second opinion, also to prevent
the entrails being buried or otherwise being done away
with until the inspector has had an opportunity of inspecting
them. Hence the need for inspection at time of slaughter.
A weakness is also disclosed in our Slaughterhouse
Regulations as to the lighting in slaughterhouses when killing
is in progress, and also as to the capacity of the buildings
•compared with the increased extent to which the premises
are now used which may formerly only have been required
for a few animals on rare occasions.
Up to the present no legal proceedings have been taken
under these Regulations, and any bad meat destroyed
has been willingly surrendered by the tradesmen concerned.
The following Table is instructive in that the Inspectors
were able, in spite of the scattered premises, and the varying
hours of slaughter, to inspect 53 per cent. of carcases known
to have been slaughtered since April 1st, 1925. But it is to