MASTERTON ABATTOIR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9122, 23 June 1908, Page 5

MASTERTON ABATTOIR.

SECOND YEAR'S WORKING. RETURNS OP STOCK SLAUGHTETERD. DIMINUTION ii\ ANIMALS KILLED. IMPROVED QUALITY OF STOCK The second working year of the Masterton Abattoir concluded on May 31st last, the Abattoir having been opened on June Ist, 190fi. The details of the stock slaughtered during the past year are as foliows: —

Totals 16y0 223 9325 1100 Tne totals of the animals slaughtered for the various months were:—June (1907), 1,201, July 995, August 1,067, September 1,023, October 965, November 1,022, December 816, January (1908), 985, February 1,045, March 973, April 1,120,. May 1,258, June 1,069, making a grand total for the year of 12,338 animals passed through che works. The grand total for the year 1906-07 was 13,753. This means that sh.ce the Abattoir was opened 26.091 animals have gone through the butcher's hands. The animals condemned were as follows:—Wholly: 24 cattle, 51 sheep and lambs, 9 pigs; partially 37 cattle, 24 sheep, 13 pigs. A bird's eye view of the percentages of condemned animals is instructive. For the past year they were:—

H •- °8 %£ . -• * •*■» +-> cj B tin +> Wholly "1.26 .54 .81 .68 Partially 1.92 .25 1.17 .59^ Totals 3.17 .79 1.98*1.27 For 1906-7 the approximate percentages were: — Wholly 2.66 .26 2.80 .79 Partially 1.78 .31- 4.77 .89 Totals 4.44 .57 7.57 1.68 It will be noticed that there has been a decrease of stock killed duii.;g the past, year, the total decrease Being 1,415 animals of all kinds. Sheep are responsible for nearly the whole of this reduction, 1,019 less being slaughtered. Laot year, also, the Carterton Baccn Company was having a large number of pigs slaughtered, the reduction this year being 379. Calves sho«ved an increase of 15, and cattle a de.rease of 32. lor the decreased consumption of meat, no doubt various causes may be asciibed. A rise in prices which otcurnd in October last year, and which was maintained for about fi\e montns, may, no doubt, have had a salutary effect on the public appetite for carnivora. However, the aggregate uecrease is not very considerable, comparatively speaking, when spjtad over a year's Int-inesa. it id va-y satisfactory to note a moßt remaiicable deciva'se in the!"percentage of, pigs c;ndemned. Last year the total of 7.57 per cent, of the wholly and partially condemned pigs was apparently abnormal, and whs certainly extremely high, representing as it did, about one affected animal in every thirteen slaughtered. This year there is the substantial reduction of 2 percent in the wholly \ condemned (or about five-sevenths of last year's total), and roughly, a decrease of three-fourths of las*; year's per centage of partially condemned, the aggregate decrease in the per centage of condemned wholly and partially being 5.59 per cent, (roughly, five-sevenths of the" total). This congratulatory fact is attribut- , able in a great measure to the more scientific methods being adopted by. pig breeders, and to the increasing watchfulness of the sanitary environments and dietary of pigs. Cattle also show an appreciable diminution in the number of wholly condemned beasts, the percentage being reduced by, roughly, one-half. The number of partially condemned shows a fractional increase only. Sheep have not shown to the same advantage in the wholly condemned list, the per centage having doubled on last year's figures, but still, onehalf per cent, of condemned animals is not a very startling matter. One outstanding feature, however, is the slight difference, only .27 per cent., between the number of pigs and the number of sheep wholly condemned. Partially cindemned sheep were less last year by .06 per rent, —an infinitesimal decrease.

A Wairarapa Age reporter had a conversation with seve ,- a4 local butchers on Saturday, respecting ihe Abattoirs, and one and all expressed every satisfaction with the way the present manager (Mr A. D. Gillies) supervises the works. The inspection is very stringent, and if meat is the slightest bit suspicious in appearance it is given a short shrift by the Inspector). The old bone of contention—the killing fees —had some meat on it still, however. "The fee charged for killing sheep is really ridiculous," was one butcher's comment. "To have to to pay Is 3d per head is altogether unreasonable." Another butcher contended that a fifty per cent, reduction could easily he made on the killing fee for sheep, although he admitted that the fees charged for slaughtering all other stock were fair enough. They are as fodovv : -Oxen, ss; calves, ls9d;pigr, 2s 6d. The Abattoir manager himself, when spoken to on the question of a reduction of fees, said it was out of the question just now to make any reduction, and, comparatively speaking, the rates all round were not more than were justified to maintain the works on a payable basis. The reduction in the amount of stock slaughtered was also a mitigating factor agair.st reducing the fees. Mr Gillies said there were various improvements yet to be effected at the works, including the new system of offal ' disposal, decided on by the Borough ; CounciC

\ C'J > 4J . O V m°3 £ June, 1907 148 20 723 104 July 152 18 767 130 Augus* - 144 14 767 *98 September 151 15 716 83 October ; 38 27 773 84 November 119 23 620 54 December 112 28 749 96 January, 1908 144 21 803 77 February 136 14 737 86 iViarch 155 10 8«8 87 April 151 15 984 108 May 140 18 818 93