BOROUGH MEAT SUPPLY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXX, Issue 8492, 3 July 1906, Page 5

BOROUGH MEAT SUPPLY.

The Sale of Pork

Restrictions on Open Sale,

A Matter Which Concerns the

Small Farmer.

The position of farmers and others in regard to the sale of moat, and mora particularly pork, as governed by the slaughtering and inspection clauses of the Stock Act, as well as Borough By-laws which come forward for confirmation at next Tuesday night's meeting of the Master ton Borough Council, m;iy not, possibly, be clearly understood, and in order to avoid an infringement, committed in ignorance, the following explanation is made public. Master ton has now been declared an abattoir district, and comes under clause 17 of the Act, which ; provides, " That as long as a registered abattoir, available for slaughtering stock, is established in any district, it shall not be lawful to slaughter, in any such district, any stock for human consumption, or for export, or to dress therein any carcase for sale, except at a registered abattoir, or to sell or expose for sale in any such district, any meat slaughtered elsewhere than in a registered abattoir." Exemptions from the operation of the provision are granted to any person slaughtering stock on land or premises in his own occupation for family use and not intended for barter or sale, and to any " bona fide farmer whose ordinary fanning operations include the raising and fattening of stock"; but the stock slaughtered under this head is definitely restricted to one head of cattle and five head of other stock per week, or such larger number as is especially authorised in writing by an Inspector. This clause has been inserted in the interests of back country settlers, who are too far distant from townships to be called upon by butchers, so that they may sell to neighbours in small quantities and thus escape any hardship arising through the enforcement of rigid regulations for inspection in the slaughtering of stock.

As these provisions of the Slaughtering Act should be familiar to all persons directly or indirectly interested, by this time, there is no need for further attention being called to them ; but attention is directed to the Borough by-laws being ,, introduced in reference to the sale of pork. Swine is exempted from the general provisions dealing with slaughter of stock under the Act, and in the past it has been legal for the sale of pork to take place almost without restriction. But on the coming into force of the Borough by-laws, it will be unlawful for any person to sell or barter pork, killed outside the abattoir premises, to a butcher, anywhere inside the Borough, or within three miles of the nearest boundary thereof. The position is very definite. All pork sold within the three mile radius and within the Borough must be inspected, and must be sold by a licensed purveyor, as is provided for by the by-laws. In order to secure a license, the Inspector has to be satisfied that the licensee has a proper place for hanging the meat, so that before a farmer can sell his pork in the Borough, as has been the custom in the past, he is first of all required to have his pigs slaughtered under inspection at the abattoir, and next he has to provide premises in the Borough to the satisfaction .of the Inspector. The object of such regulations is obvious. The first ensures a supply of meat free from disease, and the latter offers protection to butchers and ensures clean and sanitary surroundings. It may be mentioned that tinned meats and hams are exempt. When the Borough by-laws are brought into force,, the Inspector intends to adopt a rigid inspection of premises occupied by licensed butchers, and also to exercise vigilance in detecting infringements of any of the regulations.

It has been suggested that the Inspector should undertake the work of inspecting the carcases of pigs brought to the abattoir premises, but he states that this is a most unsatisfactory method, and one of which he does not approve. A thorough inspection is impossible, he says, after the carcase has cooled and set.