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over the granting of licences. In due course, each local authority will
have to report to the Minister on the existing and probable future requirements
of their districts of slaughterhouse facilities, and facilities which
are, or are likely to become, available to meet these requirements. When
reporting, each Council will recommend a date on which the Minister
might apply to existing slaughterhouses the new standards of construction,
for hygiene and for the prevention of cruelty to animals.
It was ascertained that no new provision in nearby areas would meet
the needs for slaughterhouse facilities in this district. The following is a
copy of a report submitted to the Public Health Committee at their meeting
in March about the facilities for slaughtering:
Report to the Ministry. Section 3 (1) of the Slaughterhouses Act
1958, requires each local authority to review, and after consultation
with such organisations as appear to the authority to represent the
interests concerned, to report to the Minister on:—
(1) The existing and probable future requirements of their
district for slaughter-house facilities, having regard to the needs
both of persons requiring the use of such facilities and of other
persons; and
(2) The slaughterhouse facilities which are or are likely to become
available to meet those requirements.
The Slaughterhouse Reports (Appointed Day) Order of the Ministry
of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food appoints November 2nd, 1959, as
the earliest date for submission of the report, and November 2nd, 1960
as the latest.
Position Locally Pre-War. In 1934 there were 9 licensed slaughterhouses
in the district. Just before the war there were 8, namely those at
9 Northolt Road, South Harrow; 46 High Street, Wealdstone; 94
High Street, Wealdstone; High Street, Pinner; Green Man, Honeypot
Lane, Stanmore; Stanmore Hill; Stanmore Hall Farm and 63 High
Street, Edgware. Only small amounts of killing took place at any of
these, and during 1938 only 146 cattle excluding cows were killed, 59
cows, 314 calves, 1,601 sheep and lambs and 1,561 pigs.
In 1935, when the then Council considered the matter, they decided
that the limited amount of killing performed in this district did not
warrant the establishment of a Municipal Abattoir.
Position during the War. Shortly after the outbreak of the war most
of the killing at private slaughterhouses ceased. The Livestock (Restriction
on Slaughtering) Order of the Ministry of Food, which came into
operation early in 1940, resulted in the work previously carried out in
about 11,500 premises being concentrated at some 500 slaughterhouses.
Very little use was made of any of the local slaughterhouses during the
war, only the occasional pig or sheep belonging to an institution or
private pig club being killed.