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people concerned with operating installations must be instructed; the
concentration of the gas—which must be neither too low nor too high—
must be sufficient to render the pig insensible to pain until it is slaughtered;
one of the recognised instruments for stunning animals must always be
at hand in case of a fault in the gassing arrangements.
Meat (Staining & Sterilization) Regulations, 1950. These
Regulations made jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food and the Ministry of Health provided for the staining of all meat
which is unfit for human consumption and all meat from knackers'
yards, and prohibited the sale by retail of any unfit meat unless it has been
sterilized, exceptions being made only for sale from slaughterhouses
and knackers' yards to zoos, menageries and milk farms. The Regulations
were to have come into force on April 1st, 1959. They were revoked,
however, by the Revocation Regulations which came into operation
on the 26th March because the Ministers decided, in view of the many
protests received, to have further consultations with the interests concerned.
Complaint about slaughterhouse at Stanmore Hill. One of
the four slaughterhouses in the district still used is that at the back of
87 Stanmore Hill. Over the years it had been used for quite limited
killing so that, in spite of its shortcomings, no real nuisance had arisen.
Towards the end of 1958, however, the situation changed in that the
number of killings substantially increased and animals were being kept
overnight. Alterations and additions to the slaughterhouse would have
been necessary to bring the premises up to the required standard. The
Public Health Committee at their meeting on the 6th January, being
informed of the extent to which slaughtering was being carried out,
deferred consideration of the renewal of the licence for 1959. The Planning
Committee, at their meeting on the 10th February, refused the
application in respect of the proposed alterations to the slaughterhouse
on the grounds that the proposal would constitute an extension of a nonconforming
use. A petition signed by a number of residents of Green
Lane and Stanmore Hill, protesting against the use of the slaughterhouse
and urging the closure of the premises, was submitted to the Public
Health Committee at their meeting on the 17th February, who were also
informed of the decision of the Planning Committee taken at their meeting
on the 10th February. As the condition of the slaughterhouse was giving
rise to contraventions of the Slaughterhouse (Hygiene) Regulations, 1958,
and the Slaughtero Animals (Prevention of Cruelty) Regulations, 1958,
the Committee resolved that the application for the renewal of the licence
be not granted. The owner then indicated that he was prepared to use
the slaughterhouse only in connection with his retail business, and undertook
that, should the licence be renewed, the slaughterhouse would be
used exclusively for the applicant's retail business (which would involve
a return to the numdbers dealt with before November, 1958), that except
in cases of emergency, no stock would be laired on the premises overnight
and except in exceptional circumstances slaughtering operations would
be restricted to one day a week. In addition, he proposed to rebuild