A VIGOROUS CLEANING-UP. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 26

A VIGOROUS CLEANING-UP. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

CHRISTCHURCH, July 26. At the city abattoir to-day, during the currency of the visit of a 'representative of the Press, cleansing operations on a considerable scale were to be seen in progress. That portion of the slaughtering apartment where the carca-ses are hung to cool was receiving a vigorous hosing down, while in other parts the eound of brooms busily plied was to be heard. No alteration in the mode of getting rid of the blood adjacent to the cattle pithing pens, however, was observable. Outside, in spite of the drenching rain, cleaning-up was also being prosecuted with a firm hand. The pir pens were being hosed, while another man was hard at work sweeping down the gutters adjacent to the sheep and cattle pens, and shovelling the filrh into a barrow, the material being tipped out into a gravel pit near by. Thanks to the heavy downoour of rain the concreted pens were much cleaner than has been the case all the week, and, moreover, where too much solid matter was not present the gutters were running freely. The filth mentioned yesterday as having overflowed on to the open yard between the cattle" and cheep pens had been scraped up, and things generally were in a much more presentable state, and all this, as has been observed, in spite of the soaking rain. The futility of attempting to do anything to the unpaved pens was evident, and the stuff had merely to be suffered to escape as it would out on to the yard. The plight of the sheep and cattle awaiting slaughter (although this cannot be attributed to mismanagement of .the abattoir authorities) cooped up and standing out in the open pens, exposed to the full fury of to-day's jwtiless rain squalls, was indeed saddening to contemplate. As one of the men working^ about the place remarked, "The pigs €re best off here," as indeed they *" were. By comparison, th«y are treated like • gentlemen— gentleme-p, tha* is, in somewhat reduced circumstances, but still like gentlemen. They are housed in roomy pens with sloping concrete floors, each one of which is housed over at rear. The fact that the querulous creatures had no bedding of any visible kind was noticeable, and the discomfort of having to sleep on a bare concrete floor during the present rigorous weather may well be imagined. However, th<«r have a sheltering roof over their heads thus being able to keep moderately dry. That is more than their companions in this picture (the sheep and cattle-) are blessed with. NEWSPAPER ALLEGATIONS DENIED. CHRISTCHURCH, July 29. The City Council to-night discussed at considerable length the recent disclosures published in the press relating to the condition of the municipal abattoirs at Sockburn. ~ The abattoir manager (Mr H. S. o. Kyles) in a lengthy report said: "I am in receipt of yours of 25th inst. asking for a full report- dealing with ' the übiquitous canine.' I may mentifen that it is contrary to the rules of the abattoirs for dogs to be allowed inside the buildings. Every man working at the abattoirs will bear me out in this statement, as I have always held a strong objection to dogs being allowed inside the buildings. When so many dogs are working about the place assisting- to yard cattle and sheep, it is only to be expected that at odd times one may accidentally find its way into the building, but on all occasions it has been customary to give the dog quick exit' if found inside the building. I now refute the statement that dogs are allowed to roam at free will over the buildings. Cr Cooper, chairman of the Abattoir Committee, in the course of an hour's speech, referred in detail to each of the allegations made, and claimed that there , wajs no truth in them. Other councillors agreed that the defects had been somewhat overdrawn, although they admitted that certain matters required attending to. Mr C. J. Reakes, Assistant Chief Government Veterinarian, who inspected the abattoirs on Saturday and to-day, was present at the meeting, and spoke. After explaining that he was making an official report to the Minister of Agriculture on. the subject, and could not, therefore, anticipate that report, he said that there was one point which he would like to make clear. It had been inferred in the Christchurch papers that the conditions prevailing at the abattoirs were such as to constitute a menace to the health of the meat consumers of Christchurch. That waa a very serious statement, and one which no reputable newspaper should have committed itself to without having clear grounds for making it. — ("Hear, hear.") There were not clear grounds for making that statement in the present case. If the' matter were brought down to solid facte, or facts as solid as were provided, it would be found that there were only two grounds of complaint— one that a certain amount of blood was lying on the concrete floor of ths abattoir, and the other that two of the stock pens were not paved, and as a consequence of that lack of paving the sheep and cattle coming into the abattoir to be slaughtered had a certain amount of dirt on their skins or wool.