THE ABATTOIRS DISPUTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9153, 7 September 1888, Page 6

THE ABATTOIRS DISPUTE.

SPECIAL MEETING OF THE COUNCIL. | A special meeting of the City Council was held last evening to consider the question of the City Abattoirs. There were present: | His Worship the Mayor (Mr. A. Devore), j presiding ; Messrs. Goldie, Lennox, Evans, t Hewson, Crowther, Patterson, Cooper, Gar- | ratt, Da vies, Swales, Dignan, Trenwith, t Holland, Grey, Atkin. j The question was brought up by the folI lowing minute from a report of the Finance j Committee, dated the 23rd of August:— ' " Your committee refer the question of the : abattoirs to the Council for its consideraj tion. The petition signed by 2369 people ! ■was also referred to the Council. The fol- ! lowing gentlemen were present as a deputation from the residents of Ponsonby and Newton :—Messrs. J. H. Field, J. Henderson, F. J. Jones (ex-Mayor of Newton), T. Billington, M. H. Smith, W. Parker, Rev. D. W. Runciman, T. Weston, W. Thorne, Rev. Mr. Gittos, Campbell, J. A. Austin, R. Hellaby, Dacre, Johnstone, Beaumont, and others. Mr. Cooper asked leave to indicate a motion which he intended to move. A motion by Mr. Crowther, seconded by Mr. Garratt, "That the Council go into committee " was lost. The deputation was then asked to address the Council. Mr. Campbell referred to the nuisance created giving rise to nausea, sickness, and death. It was not of slight character, but pestilential, and a menace to the health of Ponsonby, and it was getting worse year after year, and this year it reached its climax. ~ They, therefore, came to this Council and asked them regarding this matter. It was not a matter which could rest, for if refused now it would arise again and again, and they thought the Council should nip it in the bud. Not only did they feel that it was dangerous, and in some cases fatal to life, but it had reduced the value of property to a very serious extent. There was afurtherfeeling, with regard to the expense, but they felt that it was one of the most deserving things for public expense that could be. They learned that night that the abattoirs were carried on at a loss to the city, and surely on this ground they should respectfully urge that the nuisance should be done away with. In regard to the promises of amendment, he could only say that they distrusted them, and looked on them as an insult to common sense, when they were told that the effluvia was wholesome. They also believed it dangerous to the water supply, and if once it got into their water supply it would create a plague. As representative of the people of Ponsonby he asked the Council to abate this nuisance. Mr. Field also addressed the meeting, and made strong reference to the great danger to health and life from the existence of the abattoirs at the windward side of the city, and they asked the Council to remove them. They were also a pecuniary loss to the city, in the expenditure on maintenance, water supply, etc. ; and owing to the decreased value of property, and the fact that tenants could not be got. Large houses worth 30s a week were being now offered at half-a-crown a week. The residents of Ponsonby hoped the Council would look into this matter, and remove the abattoirs. They had been told that measures had been taken to prevent any nuisance, but during the past week there had been constant complaints ; and the ploughing in to a shallow depth was no remedy, for it only polluted the soil and atmosphere. Mr. W. Thorn also addressed the meeting, and expressed his sympathy with the movement. As a precautionary measure, for the last four years he had to remove his family to the North Shore during the summer months. Mr. Cooper then moved, <! That the city | abattoirs be closed on the 31st of October j next, provided that the Council previously | receive from the Newton Borough Council ! an undertaking not to at any time renew 1 any license, or grant any new license; for a I slaughterhouse within that borough, and a j pledge to immediately Uikeall steps in their power to close all noisome or offensive ! establishments within the borough, and that immediately upon receipt of such undertaking the Council consider the ques- ' tion of establishing the abattoirs elsei where." j The Mayor said that rent for the pad--1 docks was paid up to November. Mr. Cooper said the date was immaterial, but there was no doubt if the warm weather was allowed to set in before these nuisances were removed, they would have a recurrence of the typhoid epidemic. As they were aware, the doctors had a difficulty in accounting for that epidemic last year, but he thought that they had since found out that it originated not at the tramway stables but at the abattoirs in Newton borough, and the Council was partly responsible for it. The abattoirs had not been kept clean, and they could not afford the staff to keep it clean, for he did not believe that a slaughterhouse and nuisances could be separated, and the only remedy was to remove them a sufficient distance from the city. He alluded to the danger to the water supply from particles of putrid matter getting into it, as well as from the efiluvia from the putrid matter ploughed into the ground. Then again the abattoirs were not a good investment, uid they were making a loss by them. He saw that for ten months of this year they j had expended £617, and received over and above that £3 6s lid, but on reference to other years he saw there had been serious deficiencies, and from a financial standpoint the abattoirs were not a success. His impression was that they should not enter into competition with butchers, but rather have a thorough system of inspection. There were works in the Newton district other j than the slaughterhouses which caused a | serious nuisance to Pon«onby, and that ; was why he made the motion so ' comprehensive. They asked the Newj ton Borough to close these establishments, and do their duty. As to the last clause of the resolution, he meant it to be left open whether or not the Council should provide abattoirs. Mr. Lennox seconded the resolution, and said that so far as the depreciation was concerned Ponsonby was no worse than other portion® of the city. But he pointed out that sickness did not arise from the abattoirs and their stinks, nor did the medical men ever attribute it to them, nor was there any outbreak near them, but if these gentlemen imagined it would produce disease they should remove the abattoirs lest it might act on their weak imaginations, and bring on the diseases they feared. If they went to remove them let them remove Warnock's soap factory, Hellaby's slaughterhouses, and other places where the stenches arose. He cordially supported the motion proposed by Mr. Cooper. Mr. Gakkatt moved as an amendment that a special committee be appointed to consider the best means to secure the disposal of the refuse and to thoroughly abate the nuisance complained of by the petitioners, and in the event of the committee, after due consideration, finding that the refuse cannot be dealt with, or impracticable on account of cost, the Council will then undertake to close the city abattoirs. He denied that the abattoirs were a loss, and that it was ever intended that they should be a source of revenue. He also denied that the typhoid epidemic arose from the abattoirs. The whole of the medical testimony showed that it arose from the tram stables. He held that if there was a nuisance it ought to be abated, but they should notbeledaway by sentiment. In his opinion the whole question arose out of the Newton Borough getting no fees from the City Abattoirs, and now it had gone beyond them and they were in danger of losing the revenue from the other slaughterhouses. Mr. Golihk seconded the amendment, as there was apparently need to obtain further information. He found that the signatures to the petition were in many instances those of families, as many as nine and six and four of families signed it. It would be wise to go through the petition to see how many of the 3000 who signed the petition were ratepayers, and the Council only represented the ratepayers. Then a number of persons away from Ponsonby had signed it, some living in Remuera, some in other wards of the city. Then it was asserted that the concern was a losing one, but the figures showed that the receipts were much higher than the expenditure, and us for the sinking fund, that would have to be met, whether they closed the slaughterhouse or not. He also wanted it proved that the slaughterhouse was a nuisance. When they erected those and removed them from Newmarket, they thought they were doing a good thing, uud this was the lust com-

plaint they had of it. _If there was a nuisance, by all moans let it be abated. Mr. Hswso.v and Mr. Treitwith supported the amendment on the same grounds, and Mr. Daviks also supported the amendment. Mr. Evans opposed the amendment, ana said that if the abattoirs were abolished they would still have the paddocks, which could be let for grazing or for building sites. He replied at somo length to the remarks of Mr. Garratt, Mr. Golaie, Mr. Lennox, and Mr. Trenwith, and said if the amendment was lost he was prepared to go even further than Mr. Cooper, and move that the abattoirs be forthwith closed, for he held it to be their bounden duty to protect the citizens in health as well as in pocket, and ho would never rest till the abattoirs were closed and the other nuisances existing in Newton abolished. Mr. At six supported the amendment, and objected to a section of the councillors being pledged to any course. He believed the abattoirs were in the wrong place, but he could not go so far as Mr. Cooper, and close them altogether without making other provision. In the course of his address he SAid that the clay soil of Ponsonby was conducive to fevers, and medical gentlemen repeatedly advised their patients not to reside in Ponsonby, but to go to Remuera or some other volcanic soil He strongly objected to the ploughing in of offensive matter into the land, or the tallow works being carried on, as these were the causes of the nuisance. He wanted the abattoirs removed, but he wanted something more than that, and if they prevented Mr. Hellaby from slaughtering, he would still carry on his boiling down establishment, and "he was sure it would take some time to close Warnock's soap factory. Before taking any action they should have the fullest information and a pledge from the Newton borough. Mr. Dig sax said he should support the amendment, although he was convinced that they should not have abattoirs of their own, and he would support a motion to abolish them. He denied that the nuisances and epidemics arose from the abattoirs, and said that a great dea 1 of the objection was of a sentimental nature. Mr. Swales denied the assertion that Ponsonby soil was unhealthy. He had lived there 27 years and reared a family of ; seven, and had never expended £2 on doctors. Mr. Atki>" : That speaks well for the abattoirs. Mr. Swales continued his address at' some length, urging the removal of the abattoirs and the boiling-down establishments. Mr- Crowther spoke at some length, and said that since the establishment of the city abattoirs they had good clean meat, which they would not have if they removed them to some place where there would be no supervision. It struck him it was the small fly which was attacked in this matter. The abattoirs created a very small portion, if any, of the naisance complained of, for they had no boiling down establishment in connection with it, and they had secured good and pure meat for the inhabitants without incurring a loss, and that he considered was a credit to the ConnciL His opinion was that this Council should not now pass any resolution till the matter had been discussed by the Newton Borough Council and their resolutions were before them, and he thought the proper course would be a mutual arrangement. Mr. Patterson and Mr. Holland spoke in support of the amendment. Mr. Cooper replied on his motion, and said that none of them said that the city abattoirs were the primary cause of the I nuisance or epidemic, but they were made a | pretence for the toleration of the others by j the Newton Borough, and they should remove this obstruction, and then demand that the other nuisances should be removed. The amendment was then put and carried, and then became a substantive motion. Mr. Evans then moved as an amendment, "That the abattoirs be closed from the Ist of December next." He said he did not believe Mr. Garrett's motion could do i any good, as it only put off the matter. He j replied to the remarks of several of the pre- ! vious speakers. Mr. Garratt raised a point of order, as ; to the amendment, but the Mayor ruled that the amendment was in order. Mr. Garratt said in that case he would i move the adjournment, and he was proceeding to read something, when Mr. Cooper rose to a point of order, that Mr. Garratt had no right to read anything. The Mayor ruled, that in accordance with the standing orders, he could only speak to show reasons for the adjournment. The amendment of Mr. Evans was put and lost, and Mr. Garratt's motion was carried. On the motion of the Mayor, the question of appointing the special committee was allowed to stand over till next Thursday.