A PRACTICAL VIEW OF THE PROPOSED ABATTOIRS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2167, 5 September 1895, Page 7

A PRACTICAL VIEW OF THE PROPOSED ABATTOIRS.

Mr Walter .Miller, whose life-long connection with fg-kuttural and pastoral pursuits in Otago should Jend great weight to his vietrs on anything cvnr.ccttd with these industries, is anything but favourably inclined towards the pro. pozed public abattoirs about to be taken in hand by the Dunedin City Council. Mr Miller gives his reasons for protesting against the project in the following letters iv tho Daily Times :—

TO THE EDITOR.

Sin,— My reason for troubling you with this letter is because 1 think ihere are a few phases in connection with the above suMect that have not been clearly put before the citizens of Dunedin, or they wtiuld have pauaed before agreeing to erect expensive and unnecessary abattoirs at present. While willing to gr.nt that the prom ■toTB aTe actuated by the best intentions, I lmmbly sul-mit they are making a great miftake as against the interest of producers and consutneis of moat in and around Dunedin, as the follow iog jnay show :— 1. It is proposed, to erect the works on a small plot of 12 acres, without any accommodation pad^oiks for Jive stock. 2. The uss of the woks will immediately ana permanently raise 'the price of meat h< re. 3. The quality will be greatly deteriorated and uniiCC s»ary cruelty inflicted on the animals treaxed there, as I shall bhow later on. Permit me nete briefly to refer to our past and present sy-temsof meat supply and of hmdliug the same before it comes to scale. Our fanuera, breeders and fatteners, after devoting years to carefully tearing their stock, fend in weekly supplies of generally fhat-class sheep and cattle to Burnaido yards, and receive a very inadequate price for their labour and onll«y. Our butchers attend and buy their weekly require ments, and, should stock "happsn to be numerous and unusually cheap, sometimes a three weeks' supply is bought. A Government insprctor is there on duty- After the sale some five or six slaughtermen' takechaigcof the stock sold and drive them to their respective premise?, where they are kept in secure paddocks contiguous to the yards until slaughtetcd, when the carcases are delivered at thp shops of the employcrs-at a veryniodcrste cot.t indeed. Some of these men have been in the trade since the very eailiest days of the settlement, aud huve all along given entire satisfaction to their patrons. . But to return to the main question. I under■tand it is intended to try and compel all butchers trading in Diinedin to bring their stock to this one centre ; yet, as we have seen, though it i 3 of primary importance, no proper accommodation is to be provided for live stock The question again arises, What is to be done ? I have hrard two schemes propounded— one that butchers must find and lease paddocks where they c-m, which may meau miles away ; the other that the corporation must build pens and stalls on their limited ground and hand feed the stock. Both plans are bad, and neither will anßwer. Some of the butchers icquire to kill every d*y. The former plau would necessitate incessant driving of the stock to and from the psddockn, causing much trouble and expense and the s'.ock to fall off greatly. As to the latter pan, seeiug that tho great bulk of our btock are quie-ly fed *t large in the open t»ir until the day they are sent to market, they would not take kindly to the Hidden change to cJiifiuemeLt, nor would they feed or Tett, but Vould fret, become feverish, and lo c condition rapidly, thus cau»iug much suffering -to the animals while alive and greatly dtteriorating the condition of tie orcase*. Tl.cn, again, fiupiK> siri 2 we Baw tut| average ■weekly nuiuber of, say, 2000 sheep and 200 cattle and pigs crammed into 6uch a small area as that of die pjoposed abattoirs, a {-hocking state of things would toon eiuue, and in wet weather ■especially the condition of the stock would be in* describably wretched. In tbe colonies, where land is cheap and plentiful, and more eipecially for ths reason given above, public abattoirs should be erected in ihe centre of an area of about COO aores.tobe subdivided into paddocks for the use of slaughtermen. But I contend we do not require abattoirs at all ; we cau't afford it. To-day a leading- butcher told me that at present he pays £20 per month for slaughtering, but should lie go in tinder the proposed new scheme it would coßt him £60 per month. And this is only one instance of the increased expenses under the corporation scheme to the butchers of the city and suburbs. The cast of inspection, toll*ge, and every charge connected with the new works ■would*be.±acked on to the retail price of meat, which would be increastd, I was told, by not less than Id per lb, besides the first cost of £6000 and interest upon that sum which the ratepayers are ! becoming liable for. ! Now, why adopt this expensive change, and thus saddle it on the Duuediu community for all time coming? What are the leasons for it? I understand it is said some of the slaughtermen negl»ct to keep tbeir premises clean, and that diseased meat is being sold. A simple remedy for tbe former is to compel them to observe strict .sanitary regulations The latter is a false cry, and does not deservfl.the least credence. I should like to refer at some length to the question of dead meat inspection, but regard for ;> out valuable space must confine mc to a few reiuaik!,, and they are made from a sincere desire to .illay any alarm that may have been caused in the nun.l of the C3mmuuity through false repn sentations as to our meat supply. Please observe tliu followintt: — First, Ithinlfin no pa^ of the world are !mc stock bo healthy in gene: • ■ *■' ■y. ihere are positively no mai *i< - y or chronic diseases existing amoti. '„- i >'■ ■ bt .in some parts our young ar.d stoi -»t<-' ' * <> ir temporary ailments, -but I insert 'v 13 nothing to do with tne ilate of our t. t Tor the butcher. Disease ran*' 'e~>v< ti. .jima.'s ■ysteru before it will tbrivp an<3 r.Utcu. '• Second, the wiiter, after a leugtUeijed experience farearing and fattening »tock, has in variably fount

th»t » healthy be^<^t getting good food and proper care becomes fat On the other hand, a diseased animal falls off and cannot bo fattened until tin disease is stamped out. Consequently the very fact of an animal becoming ~f«it, with a healthy bloom on its sltiu up to that point, is in itself a guarantee that tha carcase will be sound. I submit tfcat the expense intended to be incurred for dead meat iunpection is a waste, and the supposed benefits to be derived from it are of little or no compensating value. Probably my opiuiens and experience may be made light of by so-called scientific slaim'sl", but were we to believe half of wha these men tell us about bacteria, animalcu'ic, tuberculosis, etc., we might bearia to wonder that any of us wete left alivo After an experience of over 40 ye»is in slauehieiine for station use, I can tiuthfully say that not a single; case of illness or disease through eating meat has ever come under my notice, either on my t.wn (stations or on any of those with which I have been acquainted during that period ; nor, iinlee ), have I heard of any such ctse occuning el-ewhere in this country. Let me say, however, that the present custom of inspecting all live sto ;k at the SjlcyarJs is, I think, highly couimen-Jable. In conclusion, I btg the citfzeni of Dunedin to recjusiderthe matter befoie it be too late To the worthy mayor and councillors who are responsible for the wise and ec nomical adrniniat ration of the affairs of this city I would respectfully say, It is wrung in the face of sadly d^prt^s-id titne3 to bring about a permanent rise in the pricj of one of fair B'aple articles off- od. Our p>>or and unemployed are increasing, and a tug in the priest of meAt may put it beyond their reach. It is a vital question to eveiyone coiicencl, rich and poor alike : none can afford a needless loss, an 1 it ought not to be inflicted. Plea-c retrace your steps, abandon the scheme, and let well alone.— l am, "Walter Miller.

etc., Dunedin, August 17.

TO THB KDJTOR.

Sir,— ln reference to my previous letters on the above subject you may notice no men l ion is m*de of the suitability or otherwise of. the proposed 6ite. I wish to say now tl at, apart from the illegality of plying abattoir* to c'oue to thiee public road*; I tbiok it would, be very difficult to select a worse position for the purpose anywhere. I understand notice of motion has betn given to rescind the motion carried granting the site at the last nvetiog of the Taieii County Council. It is to be hoped the ny mhers of that council will rally round the proposer nnd carry his motion unanimo >sly. Allow me to * tate what I think ar« tbe conditions necessary (over and nbive (inddock nccommodatioi), lvcommended in my lai-t letti-r) to make public abattoirs a success. First, from the very nature of the work to be done, the position should be of moderate elevaU3n, to secure cool, fre*h air aud a fall for drainage ; secoud, an abundant supply of good water for stock, tJ flush the killing pens daily, and to scour the drains. There are other conditions ai to minor details — viz , distance from town and suitable approaches foe live stock and wheeled truffle. Does the proposed site possess the above-uarjacd essentials ? I fear not one of them except the last. I could point to many glaring faults of the place for abattoir purprses, but as that has been fully and eleirly done already by other correspondents I shall refrain, contend tug that we do not requite abattoirs at all. I believe our authorities have been misinformed and misled by tho data on which they have act-td in pushing the transaction to itß present stage (I understand the land is purchased) ; but if it can be ihown that a mistake is being made, why uofc pau'ie, reconsider the mntter, owh up graceful y, and retrace tbeir steps before irretritv*bly loading the price of me&t with an extra cha»ge that cannot be ehaken off agaiu ? Surely the land could be resold and the money iuvtsted in something el«e ? At any rate, if a loss were sutUined the first lo3s may be the lea;t. Hnving giren my viewa to the public, and tried to awaken those inteiestcd to look into the matter for themst I vfs from a profound conviction that a great loss ii in view, I hope that others more abe to de*l with the imbjett may ba induced to take the matter up, and have it thoroughly scrutinised from both sides of the question before it be too late. — I am, &c., Ducedin, August 30. Walter Miller.