Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 1907. THE MUNICIPAL ABATTOIR & THE MASTER BUTCHERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 18 June 1907, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 1907. THE MUNICIPAL ABATTOIR & THE MASTER BUTCHERS.

SOME IMPORTANT ISSUES. A CONFERENCE between the master butchers who use the Nelson Municipal Abattoir and the City Council in committee is to be held on Thursday tb consider a number of cpmplaints which under a syst-em of give and take OUght novu.' to have existed. Without i^oing minutely into the details, it may be said that the principal grievances of the butchers are the inconvenience of the regulations detaining meat for twelve hours after slaughter by a hard-and-fast rule, and the difficulty (if not impossibility) of having any slaughtering done after 9 a.m. So far as we can understand the trouble, it appears that if a butcher by an accident, cc neglect on his own part, or often by unavoidable circumstances mch as late arrival by boat, fail to have his meat killed before 9 o'clock in the morning, it will be a day and a half or two days before he can use the uveat for distribution and sale. To i taade depending for custom to a j .natorial extent on shipping, this is a I very serious matter indeed. With regard to the regulation p/e---venting the distribution of meat for a certain number of hours after slaughter, doubtless it is wise, and in the interest of health and wholesome food. • But by what 1 process has it been 'ii'ought into force at the Nelson Municipal Abattoir? If there be on Act of Parliament making the regulation compulsory, then there should be i loral municipal by-law governing the •natter, or a. local abattoir regulation issued by the City Council, in which body, as representing the ratepayers, | the abattoir and its control are vested. Apparently, however,' the con.t.ol o£ the establishment in this particular at '.east has been exercised by the Depart•nent of Agriculture, or by the Health Department, or by some' Government official without the owner of the Abat'oir, the Nelson City Council, being -nore than perfunctorily consulted — if H all. At tho last meeting of the "ouneil, one Councillor took it for that the matter was beyond 'ho control of the Council, as if stepping over tho head of a local body V a Government department was an orlinary procedure. Another Council"nr pointed out that the regulation vas made, not by the Department of Health, which may be considered to tovern svuh questions as the hygiene •f meat, but by the Department of Agyiiultvi.p. Then, foo, the i«g\ila- , ion semis applicable only to the willt<".' nonths of the year, and not to the. nmnier — not because it is move neces•iry in winter than in summer to keep neat twelve hours after slaughtering, but simply because the Department knows that there are no appliances at the Nelson Abattoir to enable such j. regulation to be- enforced in summer. In any case, the issue involves a principle : Has the Department of Agriculture any lright or precedent to make rules and regulations for a municipal institution without using the governing local body as its channel? Can he Department legally enforce such a ulo unless covered by specific clauses if Act of Parliament? If there be ■io such right, precedent <v clauae, 'hen there is an interference with an inherent local prerogative. We do not question for a moment, the wisdom of oreventing the distribution 'oi meat, vinter or summer, for some hours afl^r slaughter. But if a regulation go•erning the matter has to be made, r< should be "made- through the City Council, the owner of the Municipal \battoir, and not over its head by a '"rovernment department. The other grievance of some at Jeast if the butchers using the Municipal Vbattoir is that the hours of slaughterng are too arbitrarily fixed ; that it s difficult, if not impossible, to get laughtering done after 9 a.m., even ■hen emergency arises. Now, it lands to reason that there imgit be nles and regulations for the common '•ell-being and convenience and that hess tmisb be observed. But it is esthat there should be a good '.?al of elasticity. As a journal that ok a leading part in the establishment f the Municipal Abattoir in Nelson, ye feel justified in declaring tljjt tha nstitution was never designed to Samper or embarrass the local butchers,

it to restrict their trade. It certainly ivus never designed merely to furnish .■omfortable and regular employment for i well-paid and »ioV tivec-worked staff. it certainly was r.ovw contemplated [hat the master butchers should be put about rather then that some slaughtermen might havo their regular ' hours disturbed. It has long been contended that the Abattoir should be made self-supporting, that the fees should be in line with those of other similar establishments, and that the place should be run on business lines. But it dees not look like business to place hindrances in the way of butchers by means of hard ajid fast hours. Of course tho ratepayers must not be required to incur extra expense to suit tihe butchers. But if a butcher be willing to pay, say an extra fee, or to employ and pay over-time labour, he should be permitted to have his slaughtering done on an emergency^ at any reasonable hour. If the institution is drifting into redtapery — if the current local notion that the municipality is run for employees rather than for the ratepayers is getting a hold at the Abattoir— the sooner the City Council sots about straightening out matters the better. The Municipal Abattoir has been established, firstly to ensure the hygienic distribution of meat, and secondly to maintain a modern convenience on a self-supporting basis. That is to say, the Abattoir is a municipal service, which must be run on business fines. The fees, if inadequate to keep the establishment going with a little over in cash each yeac-, should be raised. Ths law gives the municipality a virtual monopoly of the business of slaughtering for the public meat supply and bhe butchers know that they 1 have to comply with the law, even if i they find it somewhat irksome. But it was never intended that the law or its administrators should hamper the butchering trade. In view of- the ctoming conference between the local master butchers and the City Council, it is hoped that the business-like give-and-take aspect of Abattoir matters will be kept well in mind by both sides. The public want their meat uood and wholesome, and they want it for reasonable prices. The ratepayers want the Abattoir run as a self-sup-porting establishment. The butchers, 1 deprived of their private slaughterhouses, want a common slaughterhouse where they will not meet obstacles to thei- trade or to their methods of distribution, and where the charges will Kn r«i enable and adequate to service rendered. Within these lines there is suro'.v ampi? margin for a fair and pnuitablf" ap«">ment mutually satisfactory. H irtlnpevy. and the vulu-u---10..s b.-t pv.-r...btviidiiif! notion that nnhli.- institutions are run for the bc-no-fit of employees instead of lor the public be pVuninated fvom the discussion, (li°re is no reason why the ratepayers, the City Council, and the butchers should not trrive at ami maintain an nrran.uoment bi'iielirial and profitable to ■all roncol'ni'd. ,