WORK AMONG BONES

Hawera Star, Volume L, 29 May 1930, Page 7

WORK AMONG BONES

H EALTHFUL OCCUPATION. LONDON’S UNKNOWN INDUSTRY. An industry of great importance flourishes at Marshgate Lane, London, where thousands of tons of hones from London’s abattoirs and butchers’ shops aac daily deposited. They are piled in enormous heaps at this spot, and from them valuable products. such as glycerine, lubricants of many kinds, fertilizers, and handles for brushes, tools, and cutlery, are obtained. . . The holies are collected m special vans, and on arrival at Marshgate Lane are sorted into separate heaps, according to size and shape. Only the shin and marrow hones are used for handles, and the knuckles at each end are cut off by huge powersaws. The marrow-fat is then extracted, and from this come glycerine and lubricants oi the best quality. Rib-bones and others of a shape that cannot be utilized for handles are thrown into enormous steam-heated vats, where they are boiled continuously for many hours. When all the fat lias been extracted the hones are put into powerful crushing machines, which reduce them to a powder that is •sobl to farmers as bone-manure. Nothing is wasted, and, as the products come from material generally regarded as valueless, the industry is prosperous. Tn spite of the necessarily unpleasant atmosphere, hundreds of men are employed in various departments of the great bone-yards. Moreover, those who weik there have the best of health, for the overpowering odour from tons of (lefomposecl bonesi contains properties which prevent and cure disease of the chest and lungs.

Many people suffering from asthma have been completely cured through working continually in the greasy, steamy atmosphere which hangs, like white 'billowing cloud®, about the boiling sheds.