UNINSPECTED MEAT SOLD

Taranaki Daily News, 24 January 1933, Page 6

UNINSPECTED MEAT SOLD

PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC ACTION BY STRATFORD COUNCIL. WARNING NOTICE TO BE GIVEN. X •- ■ . • . “From private reports I have gathered that there is a great deal pf private killing and a consequent sale of uninspected meat, and I think something should be done to protect the public,” stated the abattoir manager (Mr. R. Jenkin) in his report last night to the Stratford Borough Council. The Mayor moved that a certain offender, reported by the Agricultural Department, be prosecuted. Cr. R. F. .Harkness thought the man should be warned first. He mentioned the disparity in prices between the private vendor and the butcher. He had had prime lamb offered him at 4}d. a lb. when the butchers were charging lOd. and Is. The practice should be stopped, the Mayor affirmed. Cr. C. H. Speck stated that to prosecute was to protect the butchers, and not the public. He agreed with Cr. Harkness that butchers’ prices were much higher than those of private vendors. The council could not overlook a nagrant breach of the law, said Cr. N. B. Fletcher. Cr. A. J. Davey thought action should be taken. Cr. C. R. Finnerty doubted if the public knew the law, and moved an amendment that a warning be issued fjrst and that no action be taken in the case under discussion. That the price of meat was too nigh at the butchers was the opinion of Cr. A. H. Trotter. Cr. A. H. Nelson pointed out that if the practice were continued the council would lose revenue in killing fees. “To hear some of the councillors makes one think the regulations were made for the benefit of the butcher, when they were made to ensure that meat is killed under sanitary conditions,” the Mayor said. “The Agricultural Department, he added, “has, gone to the trouble of catching this offender, and as all farmers know, the practice is against .the law. I think we should prosecute. The revenue from the abattoirs has already decreased, and if that goes on a serious position will arise. Farmers can sell meat in the town as long as they have, the meat slaughtered at the abattoirs. Cr. Finnerty attributed the fall in revenue to the fact that people were economising in meat. The amendment was carried by 5 votes to 4.