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filled in. It is desirable that that should be done, or that the Lake be
drained in order that it may not constitute a breeding place for mosquitoes.
Your Council have had under consideration the making of ByeLaws
requiring the slaughter of food animals by humane methods. With
this end in view, your Health Committee received deputations of butchers
and other interested parties, and heard arguments for and against the
proposition. Bye-Laws were made in 1925, and received the approval of
the Ministry of Health in 1926. Copies of these Bye-Laws requiring,
inter alia, the slaughter of large animals intended for the food of man to
be effected by mechanically-operated instruments, were sent to the
butchers in the District.
The Public Health (Meat) Regulations, 1924, came into operation on
1st April, 1925. These require that meat exposed for sale shall be protected
effectively from dust, filth and flies. The proviso to these regulations,
issued by the Ministry of Health, to the effect that they shall
not be interpreted to imply an obligation on the part of meat vendors to
protect meat by glass windows, renders their operation exceedingly
difficult if not altogether nugatory. The provision of a sun-blind and
side curtains to a stall established in front of a shop or even in the roadway,
cannot conceivably be regarded as sufficient protection to meat displayed
thereon from dust, flies and filth.
The question of the establishment of a Public Abattoir is still under
consideration.
Deputations from the confectioners of the District who regarded the
imposition of the provisions of the Shops Acts as prejudicial to their
interests, waited upon your Health Committee and explained their
position. Having regard to the fact that the Council are designated by
the Acts as the Authority who are to administer them, they (the Council)
felt that they had no option in the matter and must require confectioners
to abide by the statutory provisions.
Health Week was observed in 1925, as in the previous four years, by
the distribution to school children of leaflets containing skeletons of
five Essays. As the result of the Essay Competition arising thereout,
12,713 essays were submitted. The prizes—including gifts of valuable
books and trinkets from two of your Councillors—were distributed at
a meeting in the Municipal Hall, attended by a large section of the public.
The Local Government and Other Officers' Superannuation Act,
1922, came into operation on 1st April, 1925. All entrants into the