THE LYTTELTON ABATTOIRS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIX, Issue 13122, 9 May 1903, Page 2

THE LYTTELTON ABATTOIRS.

A SUCCESSFUL MUNICIPAL EXPERIMENT. The public abattoirs, established hr the Lyttelton Borough Council, have been in operation for upwards of nine months, and so successful have they jrroved that there is, probably, no person in Lyttelton who wishes to return to the order of things which prevailed before they were established. The whole population of Lyttelton declare themselves perfectly satisfied with the new departure. The public approve of it because there has been no increase in tbe rates, or in the price of meat, while there has been an improvement in tho general quality of the latter. In a conversation with representatives, both of the master butchers and of their employees, a representative of this paper learned that neither class wishes to, go back to the old system of private slaughterhouses. The butchers say that they pay more for lolling their meat than nnder that system, but they look upon the additional expenditure as money well laid out. Tho advantages of tho present method afford more than compensation. They know that their customers have full confidence that the meat supplied will always be good. Oil this point one member of the trade remarked that ]na sales had increased since the establishment of the abattoirs. It seemed to him, he ;aid, that people were inclined to buy more meat than formerly. Moreover, the inspection of the meat is considered a safeguard against “ cutting ” competition. No butcher, in a place where every carcase lias to pass tho examination of a Government inspector, could, even if he would, undersell his fellow tradesmen by tho aid of inferior meat. The butchers also recognise that it is an advantage to them to have their meat prepared 1 as ‘'nicely’ as it is in the abattoirs, amid surromvii'igs thoroughly clean and wholesome. The Lyttelton botchers, by co-operation, have succeeded in reducing to a minimum the loss resulting from the condemnation of meat by the Government Inspector. They have united to obtain the si*r vices of an individual to carefully inspect all animals purchased on their account, and they have practically established an insurance fund, contributed to in equal proportions by themselves, as buyers and by the sel lers of the stock which they buy. Thus the loss arising from the condemnation of a carcase does not fall on one individual. A portion of that loss is recouped by theGovernment, and tbe balance is made good by tho. insurance fund. A recent ■ visit to the abattoirs proved them to be in excellent order. There is admirable drainage to the sea. There is a liberal supply of hot and cold water laid on, with ■ample facilities for utilising it, and cleanliness characterises the establishment. Now, after nine months’ use, the building and its surroundings are as clean and as unobjectionable in every sense as they were when first established.