HOW BUTCHER MEAT IS HAWKED.

Evening Post, Volume XLI, Issue 55, 6 March 1891, Page 4

HOW BUTCHER MEAT IS HAWKED.

TO THE EDITOR. SIR— It is an undoubted faot that from whatever cause Wellington at present oooupies the unenviable position of being the most unhealthy oity in New Zealand. Strenuous ondeavonrs havo from time to time been mado to obtain the consent of tho ratepayers to a loan sohemo, whereby tho complete drainage of tho oity would be effooted, but owing to the apathy of thoso to whose families grim death is aB yot a stranger the attempt has been a signal failure. Th&t our drainage oan be greatly improved there is no gaicsiying, but there are also other precautions which might at no cost whatever be taken to preserve as far as possible tho health of the inhabitants. Some time baok when typhoid was rife there was a great outcry abont unolean milk, dairy and medical experts were told off to ' inspeot them. Tho results, howeyer, were practioally nil, and although some reports were furnished they * ere not aoted upon, and it was generally apoepted fch4 the dia-

trjbution of the disease was not due to the milk. It io, howovor, woll known that in Wellington xho bulk of the meat sold to tho working claia is p^Ul by what are termed bawing-cart mon— that is, butchers who load their carts with meat in the early morning and hawk it round from door to door (ill late in tho afternoon. Thefo <arta are taken up and down every bank-slum and alley in tho oity, and tho contents of the carts aro overhauled by evory customer at pleatiure. the moßt favourite mode of testing Iho tendeinrss of tho joint is for the intending purohat" r to poko her finger into it, and otherwise handlo tho joint to investigate as to the quantity of bone, &c , boforo a deal is effeoted, tho much-poked and fingered joint iB often rejected, and carried from door to door, until finally it is disposed of to somo housewife who, of courso, is quite ignorant as to how many fever dons it ha 3 been in the vicinity of, or how many hands reeking from a bod of fever, or even worse, have handled it The driver of any butcher's cart will boar mo ont when I assert that the above mode of selling meat is the rule rather than tho exception, 1h.9 man in ohargo being no way particular, but only too pleased at effecting a bargain. Allowing that it is tho exception, it stands to reason that meat hawkfid up and down overy dirty alley is liable to attract fever germs, dirt and filth of every dep cription. T he drivers leave thoir carts standing With the backboards down fully exposed to the heat of tho sun ; this, ba it remombered, is from Bam to 5 pm. Ono of our principal butchers, Mr. E. Barber, I understand, has never adopted the system of .soiling his meat by way of hawbing-carts. Why cannot tho City Council pass a by-law prohibiting the salo j of meat by such means ? The consumore | would be the gainers were thoy to purchase at the nearest shop, as tho butcher naturally has to add to the selling prioe of tho meat, the coat of maintaining a horse, oarfc, and harness, and the wages of the man in charge. Thif, it is roughly estimated, is 20 por cent. on sales. Were tho sale of meat by way of hawking oartß prohibited, numerous small butcher Bhops would be established, and meat vended within the easy reach of every one. I invite our city fathers to seriously investigate my assertions. I warrant them surprisingly correct in every particular. Let the medical profession be consulted as to tho probability of contagious diseases being spread about by snch means as I have instanced ; the mystery of how typhoid, scarlet foyer, diphtheria, and other diseasoß reached many families whoso evory habit was oleanliuees itself will then perhaps bo solved. I may addreßH you further at an early date regarding the quality of ihe meat supplied to Wellington consumers, its mode of treatment, and the Bource from which the bulk of Vo is obtained. I enclose my card, and, "should the City Council require further particulars they can obtain my adcU««s *» j application to you. I am, &c, A.N OBSEBVEIt.