OUR MEAT SUPPLIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8170, 1 August 1906, Page 2

OUR MEAT SUPPLIES.

THE VALUE OP INSPECTION. HOW DISEASED ANIMALS ARE DISPOSED OP. W ere Taratialri searched from end to |ond, it would be dillicull to find a more suitable and convenient location for the slaughtering and clostniction of on-! demned and diseased stock than that at present in use by Mr P. McGregor on the Barrett road, about three or four miles from New Plymouth. Sufficiently removed from the (own to avoid any risk of contagion, and at some distance from any running stream of w der, the ligeslcr is about as well isolated as wild be desired. The sett'cmint tiound is sparse, so that lliero is little likelihood of any nuisanceheing caus?d o neighbours, and there is ample roam 'or the disposal of all offal and waste.

A visit to the works was included in the stops taken by a Daily News reporter to ascertain whether or not there was any ground for the rumour that meat condemned as unfit fir human consumption was finding its way to the dinner-tables of New Plymouth people. In company with Mr Rowan, Stock Inspector, the farm was reached | about mid-day. The slaughtering! buildings were designed and erected by the recent owner, Mr William Barnard, and the site chosen and general arrangements are a credit to him. Let us follow the condemned beasts during their last few hours of existence, ind for a few minutes afterwards Hero is the pen of eleven cattle, mostly old cows, that are doomed to destruction to-day. A somewhat attenuated cow heads the way into the long race which leads to the slaughtering pen on the first floor. To tho average man she appears healthy enough, but there! that dry shaking cough tells its taletuberculosis in an advanced stage. Next comes another cow, that filled many a brimming bucket of milk last year, and was then turned out for the winter, being expected to calvo and mco more come into profit in the spring. Thanks, however, to the keen eye of tho inspector, we now find tho poor beast destined for the knife, and butter consumers are spared the necessity of eating the produce of a diseased cow. Tuberculosis is writ large enough for even an amateur to detect, Then a couple of heifers, another cow, and next a working bullock that has heard his last' Whoa come in here," and whose sides will never again feel the cut of the drover's lash. He was the pride of his owner, and tho " best bullock in the team." To condemn him, said his quondam master, was a sinme; never was bullock so healthy as he. But the fiat went Forth, and tho ox found his way with other " unfits" to Mr Mc Gregor's, there to giyo his hide and bones for profit as the only marketable parts remaining.

Tlie race is full, and the lowing of the condemned beasts tolls of their uneasiness. The door at the top of the race is opened, and two cows march through the narrow gap. Bang sjoes the door, and thud, thud, the pilhing blade, and the two cows lie an inanimate mass upon the floor. Two men get to work in hot haste, the hides aro removed and sent down a ehuto to the chamber below ; feet go down another way; and presently instead of the two cows, we see a heap of flitches and ill-shapoo. joints at the mouth oi the digester. No doubt now remains as to the state of health of thsse beasts. The lungs and adjacent parts are full of tuberculosis growth. Again tho door opens, there's a shullling in the race, the tramp of a couple of beasts in the killing pen, that sickening thud again, a scramble, and a fall; a few minutes more and the heap of cut-up flesh has been augmented. And so on until at the end of the day there is a fearful mass of corruption stacked upon the floor, almost sufficient to make a man swear off meat for life

During the interval set apart for lunch, we had a conversation with Mr McGregor, who do;v controls the business. When told of the rumour abroad in tho town he said he had heard something of it, and remarked that ho was ready and anxious for inspection of the works by any one of the public interested, venturing his opinion that folk should take the trouble to enquire and inspect before conjuring up nasty fancies to scare people with "When there's anything found wrong here," Mr McGregor said emphatically, " I'm ready to go out. I don't care when they come, but I'd like to see the Mayor and Councillors out here to see for themselves. Thoy would s®on be convinced that nothing from here can get into the town consumption " There aro no pigs kept on the place, and there never have been since the digester was first opened. Every ounce of offal is treated on the premises, and the hones ground into manure. The " digester" is of considerable dimensions, as may be gauged from tho fact that the eleven boasts were all stacked into it before the inspector left. Tho top being screwed on, a head of 551bs of stoam was turned on. This had to be maintained for eight hours, and at the end of that time all the remains of the cqreases could be taken away in one cart-load to a portion of the farm across tho gully quite a quarter of a mile from the works. Tho principle adopted in the construction of the building is u good one, the raco leading from the pens to the upper storey, obviating the necessity for any lifting or hoisting On the first floor at the other end of the building is the bone room and grinder, and the bone-dust falls to a room below. The engine-room occupies the ground floor in the middle of the building, and the digester opens into tho apartment below the killing and cutting-up rooms. There is a good supply of water from tanks, and altogethc r the arrangements are most complete.

The diseased stock paddock is alongside, and is securely enclosed with a good barbed-wire fence, so that condemned beasts have no chance of wandering on to the rest of the farm, and the healthy slock cannot reach those condemned. Our representative was quile satisfied that everything was as it should be. The beasts are now killed only on Mondays, under the supervision of the Government Inspector, as should always have been tho case. Asked whether he would like that stuff killed at the abattoirs, one luok at the heap of diseased flesh gave the answer, ami he came away convinced that no condemned slock should be taken near a public abattoir, where it might bo kept in the same pens, killed with the same knives, cut up on the same door, hung on the same hooks as that intended for our use. The idea of such a thing is revolting.