The Sale of Horse ‘Beef.’

New Zealand Mail, Issue 934, 24 January 1890, Page 4

The Sale of Horse ‘Beef.’

However desirable it may ho in exceptional eiroumatances of siege or famine to -have in our mi-iss available for food a constant supply of horseflesh, there are low persons whd will not hail with ut ixfautiou the advent of the recent Bill for regulating the aaie of Shis commodity, Cu.-t-mi hap, not without reason, asuiuned (.0 the flesh of the sheep, or i; \an pm. a bigiu-r ma -Uot va no than that of their tqniuo cousin, it is true thifc the latter contains 110 really injuriousi.igre-.iienis. an i that sb is, on the contrary, liutrith. us, l and fairly -•'igeatibie, hut it is alio ne essarilv inferior, aa being tile tissue of a worked and driven animal., and consequently tough and liable to be loaded with excretory; products. It is probable that no small p oportion of the choap so-called beef’'commonly exposed on the stalls of some salesmen is genuine horseflesh, and that not of the heat quality'. In our day no healthy and active roadster need fear the pole-axe. His vital powers have a muoii higher value than Ins carcase. Consequently we need hiq-dly expect to find this kind of ‘ beef’ in prirqe coudition. if indeed it is free from disease. The Act just passed provides that the purchaser shall, at all events, be ehowu by ample advertisement what was the living shape of the meat he buys. Tue horse in Ijfe will remain a horse in death. A system of regular inspection will guarantee as far as possible the protection afforded by the Act, and the question of a choice pf food will thus be put tq the public in its plainest terms.— : Lancet.