SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] MONDAY, MAY 21, 1894. OUR DOMESTIC MEAT SUPPLY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4726, 21 May 1894, Page 2

SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] MONDAY, MAY 21, 1894. OUR DOMESTIC MEAT SUPPLY.

hvs Stock Conference, amongst >ther subjects, propose to discuss mblic abattoirs. A stricter supcr'ision in Masterton would be an advantage although the slaajhterlouses now used are on the. whole airly clean. The advantage o" one veil regulated abattoir would lie in ho facility with which diseased neat could be detected and rejected. Phose who know most about the neat trade in this district say thai i_ good many unsound beasts aw cilled and consumed. There is, ol :ourse, a demand for cheap meat md this is very frequently met bj ikightering cheap animals. Vft lelieve tbero is perhaps a less pro 10/ ion of unsound meat killed hot ;han formerly, but the supply is no ivliat it should be considering th wices charged by butchers. Wifchii ;he last year or so the wholesa! irice of meat has fallen by at least ;liird, the retail price remains th same! Butchers are having a gooi lime of it, and the public shouli ■nsist upon best qualities of meat Butchers might even afford to kil nutton of a quality similar to lha .vliich is exported to England. I s a lamentable fact that in order t mjoy the best New Zealand muttoi i man has to go to England. K :nn always get it there, but it i mly occasionally that he can obtaii it where it is grown, It is a grea pity, too, that farmers do not grov mutton for table use instead of fo ivool. There are certain classes o sheep, such as Southdown, whicl ire worth a penny a pound morefo iho table than the ordinary Liucoh md Romney breeds, and yet ther ippear to be no settlers about hen iviih sufficient intelligence and enter prise to give the public a first cks 'able sheep. In time, no doubt, th iemand will create the supply, bu it present Colonials are not vci" particular. If their butcher wii jive them credit, they wijl take ajr jnality of_ meat lie likes ,to offe item. It is somewhat curious, bu ive believe it to be the case, tlj,a Wellington meat as a whole I better than Masterton meat, am London meat than Wellington meal Kemve vrJue quantity rather thai iua%, and this from a dietar; J.oint <rf next is a great mistake There is not ranch prospect o securing really clioici njeat, bu ;here_ should be a certainty of al ;hat is sold being free from tain md disease. This immunity migh )e secured through a public abattoii md it is for this reason that w establishment. Soro •ears ago we helieye fionsiderabl [uantities of'very objectionable ipj yere vended in this neighborhood Phjngs are better now, but still wi lave had pretty good evidence .give* 9 us tliat even in illo present da; [iseased animals are o'ccaaioipa;]}' laugbteral. The Borough Cpiinei i.as ; ,of course, ample power to estab ifih (i public gljattoiv,'inspect al tock -killed, and recoup ifself fo jost of all that it may 'do by cojlecjf ing fees from the trade.' It •is quit obvious, too, that at tlie t prevailin; prices charged for meat, butcher could afford to pay the fees.

It w not generally known that today is the real anniversary day of Masterton. On the 21st of May, 1804, a Sunday, by the way, the first party of resident settlers camped m this town, having come up with a few cattle to settle here. The party IQonsbted of Mr William Adams, Mr I David Dixon, the late Mr Michael j Dixon, and the late Mr John Cole. Theyoainped in a Maori whare on 1 the Worksop farm. At that time iMasterton consisted of a strip of ! grass land extending from the Worksop farm to the Upper Plain. Tho bush came down to where MiTemple's store now stands, and to-1 | wards the Waipoua was high fern. | Where the Post Offlceand Waiiiakapa j ( Daily Times Office now stand was I fern ground. After forty years it is gratifying to find two out of the i I first four settlers in the town, Mr W. Adams and Mr David Dixon, are still amongst us and looking hale and I vigorous. We do not know'whether the earthquake this morning came ,to remind us that Master-ton waß forty years old and ought to celebrate its birthday in some way or other. Forty years hence it will he a big place if it grows as rapidly in the future as it has done in the past.