THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1856, 3 February 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1880.

The report of the Inspector of Nuisances under the Board of Health, presented at last meeting of the Selwyn Ceunty Council, reveals a by no means desirable state of things as regards tho slaughter-houses of the district. It appears from the document that the present system is a failure. The Inspector says—" The general result of my inspection is that the whole system is radically bad," and again, " the premises are as a whole unsatisfactory." No officer in the position of Mr Pearce could speak in stronger or more emphatic terms. In view of the danger to the health of the residents of the district it becomes a necessity that those in whose hands the regulation of slaughter-houses rests should take immediate steps to alter the present state of things. As we have pointed out over and over again the time is fast approaching, if it has not already arrived, when the slaughterhouses now existing should be removed entirely from the centres of population. This opinion is strengthened very considerably by the report we have referred to. The County Council, it is true, have instituted reforms, notably in the matter of the floors of the slaughter-hpuses; but even this—a step in the right direction though it undoubtedly is—will but modify the evil now complained of by the Inspector, and which is becoming daily more and more apparent. We have further called attention to the only remedy which would remove this. That is the establishment of public abattoirs. At the interview between the County Council and the deputation of butchers this subject was discussed, and generally the tone of the Council was in favour of the establishment of abattoirs. It is true that it was pointed out that a revenue would not be derived therefrom except the butchers were compelled to slaughter th«re. Now this argument appears to us to be unsuitable In the first place abattoirs are to a certain extent public conveniences—indeed we may say public necessities—and therefore it is not to be looked for that they should of necessity produce a revenue. If they can be made to do so, so much the better, but we contend it should not be made a sine qua non. Of course the first expense of such a work as the erection of properly fitted abattoirs would be very large and, at first, at all events, taking our comparatively small population into consideration, this could not be recouped entirely out of revenue derived from fees. But every year the population will increase considerably, and ero long we shall find the revenue derivable from this source sufficient at any rate to pay a moderate interest on the outlay. The question of compulsory slaughtering, which appears to have been raised as a difficulty is easily solved. It would certainly never do to compel the smaller men, who kill only a few sheep a week, to go to the public abattoirs. In time no doubt txey might find it to their interest to go there, but there is no necessity to compel them. The larger ones, for obvious reasons, should be so compelled after fair notice being given, to enable them to dispose of their present sites. By this means the public will be gainer in two respects. Firstly, they will have better meat; and, secondly, they will have a fertile cause of disease removed from their midst. These are two undeniable results to be derived from tho establishment of public abattoirs, and we venture to think that they would be cheaply purchased even at the expenditure of a considerable sum of public money. We hope, after the report of the luspector proving as it does that the present system is an entire failure, that the County Council will take some practical step towards the establishment of public abattoirs.