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35
Kingston for slaughter. The carcases are afterwrds distributed
to neighbouring districts or are sent to Smithfield
Market for sale on commission. It may be, of course,
that some of these latter carcases are purchased by local
retailers and are brought back again from Smithfield to
Kingston, but the number so dealt with would probably be
quite small. It can be shown therefore that Kingston acts
as a centre for slaughtering activities and this is one of
the reasons why no effort is spared to ensure that all
carcases are examined before removal from the slaughterhouses.
If all the carcases were destined for local shops
they could be inspected at more convenient times than is
possible in the present circumstances when visits have to be
made late in the evenings and before 7 a.m. in the morning.
The lateness in the commencement of slaughter is due
in some measure to the time of arrival of some of the
animals in the town from outside markets. It used to be
the custom to rest animals for a reasonable period before
slaughter but this very desirable practice is the exception
to-day, and animals which have had a fatiguing journey are
slaughtered the same day, even if they arrive during the
week-end.
The work of inspection is not confined to the examination
of animals slaughtered in the Borough. All and every
kind of food premises, such as restaurants, sausage-making
rooms, ice-cream premises, etc., etc., are visited. The total
visits to premises having relation to the food supply during
1929 was 2,478.
The table on the following page shows the number of
notices of slaughter received, the various animals killed, percentage
examined, etc., and gives some idea of the amount
of time devoted to this work.