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The Meat Regulations, 1924, provide, inter alia, that
notice of every intended slaughter shall be given to the Meat
Inspector, and the carcases and organs must be left for a
period of at least three hours after slaughter so as to allow
time for inspection. In cases where regular hours of
slaughter occur, a permanent notice may be given, and the
carcases and organs may be removed immediately after
slaughter. In connection with one slaughter-house a
permanent notice of slaughter exists for Mondays, Tuesdays
and Wednesdays, and in connection with another
slaughter-house a similar notice is in force for Thursdays.
In these cases several visits a day are necessary in order
that carcases and organs may be inspected before removal.
The general effect of the Regulations (apart from cases
of regular slaughtering hours) is that the carcases of any
animals slaughtered after 4 p.m. may not be removed from
the slaughter-house without permission before 7 a.m. the
next morning, but there is no power vested in the Local
Authority to control the hours of slaughter. The busiest
period of the year is from October to March, and at the
height of the season it is quite a common experience to find
that slaughtering continues until very late at night and
also on Saturdays and Sundays. Despite the late hours and
even the bad weather conditions, practically every animal was
inspected last year. The exceptions were due to very dense
fogs which occurred and which effectually prevented visits
to the slaughter-houses before the carcases were removed.
99.6 per cent, of the animals were inspected.
Early in the year under review, a dealer who used to
slaughter a large number of animals in the town removed
to a district in Middlesex. There is little doubt that this
particular individual found the standard of inspection in
Kingston somewhat irksome to him, and it is a reasonable
presumpion that he moved away in the hope that he would
not receive so many calls from the Sanitary Inspector in
the new district. How far his hopes were gratified it is
impossible to say, and although his removal saved many a