THE ABATTOIRS QUESTION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 252, 25 October 1898, Page 2

THE ABATTOIRS QUESTION.

[>' DEFENCE OF THE SMALL [> BUTCHERS.

HBy Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, this day. h When the House met last night the ' Minister of Agriculture moved that \' H.ho Slaughtering and Inspection Billbo committed. He said that the Bill I portance of passing it into law this session must be apparent to all mem-->ors of the House. It must be re- | cognised that it was of the greatest | Importance that meat intended for | Jrumnii consumption should be free from all sources of disease. There were two very important reasons why tho Bill should be passed. First, it was in the interests of the people of the colony that only meat free from disease should be slaughtered for consumption, and notwithstanding what might be said to the contrary, there was no question that there were _ome •unscrupulous persons who were killing and disposing of meat not fit for human food. The second reason, and a very important one, was that we should be able to give our customers on the other side of the. globe an assurance, a guarantee as it were, that the frozen meat exported from •this colony was free from disease of every kind. When it became known in Great Britain that every precaution to that • end was taken, tbat a complete inspection was provided for before any cattle were permitted.to be slaughtered for consumption, our frozen meat would be brought more into favour than it was at the present time. The other 'colonies were taking similar action, and if New Zealand did not fall into line our producers must suffer. Dur- j ing tbe past year 1642 cattle had been condemned by the inspectors, and during the past six months no less than 761 head had been condemned as unfit for human food. The Stock Committee had taken evidence on the Bill both this and last session, and they had reported it with amendmentssome of which, amendments he differed with. He did not intend to say that the Bill was a perfect one. It was a new departure and there might be anomalies, but it must, not be forgotten that the measure had been carefully drawn up by the officers of the Department, and had since undergone revision by the Stock Committee. .The Minister then referred to the Bill in detail. It provided, amongst other things, for proper inspection of slaughtered meat, and for the establishment of abattoirs by boroughs and town districts. Power was given to the local authority in the original Bill to delegate its powers with proper safeguards to existing slaughterhouses; but this the Committee had struck out. The House passed the Dairy Industry Bill and he hoped it would pass the present Bill, in which case he would bring down the Stock Compensation Bill on Wednesday. They were all kindred to one another and all in the interests of the health of the people of the colony. Mr Buchanan said that with some of

the objects of the Bill the House %vould have full sympathy. Proper , Inspection of meat was desirable; in the interests of all portions of the community it was necessary of course that diseased meat should not be supplied, but .upon the question of diseased meat there had been a great deal of exaggeration. Diseased meat was said to be on the increase; but Mr Gilruth, the chief expert, had put it on record that since he came to New

Zealand he had only known of two cases of canc_r amongst cattle _or sheep. While recognising the desirability of inspection he objected to one feature, the effect of which would be to wipe out the small butchers; and he would take no part in doing that unless under pressure that he could not very well .avoid. The meat freezing companies had spent thousands of pounds in valuable plant for turning offai and other waste parts to good account, and no city abattoir that might be erected hereafter would be likely to erect equally good plant for the* name purpose, the result being a decided loss to the small butchers. Of the 1642 cattle condemned last year,, anc? Bientioned by the Minister, the greater part were dairy cattle. The Minister was hardly justified in saying that Bill had been given careful consideration by the Stock Committee, because members of that Committee had so many other engagements that the Bill was really dealt with by a bare quorum. He, for one, would resist to the utmost the clauses dealing with grading. The men who now had charge of "grading were experts in the freezing companies, who had been trained to thework, and whose services would have to be taken at a higher increment if this Bill became law. The Government were asking for too much power under the Bill, and in Committee he, •would attempt to modify it. Mr Duthie, speaking as the representative of a city constituency, regretted that the Minister had seen fit to send this Bill to the Stock Committee. It seemed a natural thing to do, "but that committee only represented one interest- A proper inspection ot

meat had been blocked for ten years by this interest, with the result that the consumers were often eating meat of a most loathsome character. The best of meat was sent away, and secondary and diseased meat retained ■for home consumption. The amount ~*Sf cancerous meat that was killed and retailed was surprising. (Cries of 'No.') Mr Morrison: They call it tuberculosis; that is the scientific name. Mr Duthie said he cared not for

high-sounding names. He knew that cancerous meat was slaughtered for consumption. He did not agree wholly with the Bill, but he wanted proper inspection of meat and would support the measure. He had been eating unwholesome meat for ten years, and was full up of it. (Laughter.) Mr Pirani said the objection to the •Bill had been based mainly on the question of compensation. No Go•vernment had the right to confiscate without compensation; and this Bill proposed to confiscate the properties of the small butchers of the colony, j He would oppose the Bill so long as | .this confiscation was proposed in it. Furthermore, the Bill practically took j all the power from the local authori- j iiee. The Minister had told them that j !£6OO would build the necessary j abattoirs for any small borough. Why, j he knew of many boroughs with 2000 inhabitants where £600 would not! even the laud required. The j Bill was full of debatable matters and ; objectionable principles. It was sacricing suitable slaughterhouses to the craze for abattoirs. It was going too fa*.- if they went beyond the power of efficient, inspection. Then the Bill reeked with centralisation. Everything was to be left to the approval of {the Minister.

Messrs Stevens, La-wry, Massey, Fisher, Herrios, McLean, Cjrowther, J&'latman and Kelly also spoke oh the second reading.

The Minister, in reply, said it was ' evident that the House did not intend to pass the Bill. They wished to slaughter it in committee, since no two members who had spoken were ot the same mind. It was his duty, however, to give the House the opportunity of passing or rejecting the Bill. They had heard a lot. about the poor small butcher, but not a voice had been raised about the poor consumer. In Dunedin, when abattoirs were established there was a. storm raised by the small traders, and they took their cattle to Roslyn to be slaughtered, but the people would not- buy meat that was not slaughtered at the public abattoirs at Green Island. The only way to meet the difficulty was to give the local authorities power to establish abattoirs, the meat- killed at which would be under proper inspection.

The motion for committal of the Bill was carried by 52 to 12.

In committee, at eleven o'clock, the committee stage of the Bill was entered on. The interpretation clause raised the question of what the definition of 'local authority' should be. Eventually the clause passed without amendment. There was a lot of talk on clause 3, on the question of the amount of stock a. farmer could slaughter for sale or barter. The Minister moved to limit it to one head of cattle and five head of other stock per month.

Clause 2 having been passed, Clause 3 was reached at two o'clock. This provided that a. farmer must be situated three miles from the nearest borough boundary before he can slaughter for sale. Mr O'Regan-'moved to make the distance seven miles.

At this stage the Minister asked leave to report progress, stating that he was physically unfit to sit longer. This was agreed to and the Bill was practically shelved for the session. The House rose at 2.10 a.mi