The Supply cf Meat to Large Toicns. 527 



the average supplies of live stock annually disposed of in tLo great 

 Metropolitan Cattle ]Markct. 



It is well known that the graziers themselves have little or no 

 accommodation on their respective farms for slaughtering cattle, 

 so that it would be found necessary to erect in the neighbourhood 

 of large towns abattoirs of no small dimension to prepare the meat 

 for transmission per railway. If we take the Norfolk season, we 

 should find that about 12,000 beasts would be killed at Norwich 

 during the first six months of the year. Colchester and other towns 

 would require abattoirs for a portion of the Esses breeds ; whilst 

 during the last six months the slaughtering of stock would be 

 chiefly carried on near Lincoln, Peterborough, &c. The difficul- 

 ties in this respect woidd not be great ; but we have to consider 

 two important points — the conveyance of the meat to London, and 

 the cost of cai-riage. Nay, more, we must not forget to consider 

 how and uj)on what terms the ofFal is to be disposed of in localities 

 where, possibly, little demand for it exists. It is well known, not- 

 withstanding the amount of competition between the various com- 

 panies, that the charges for the conveyance of dead meat to London 

 exceed those for live-stock by nearly or quite two-thirds. Diu'ing 

 the period that the movement of live stock to London was prohibited, 

 those charges, which of course entered into the retail price, were 

 severely felt by the consumers. There would, of course, be no diffi- 

 culty for the great lines in carrying any quantity of meat ; but who 

 does not know that country-killed meat invariably sells at lower rates 

 than that slaughtered in the metropolis, if they be of equally good 

 quality. Other objections might be easily urged against the proposed 

 system. Naturally, the grazier would have imposed upon him a great 

 additional amount of trouble. He would have to trust much to the 

 honesty of those to whom he might intrust his stock ; he would 

 require separate accoimts of the weight of each carcase, and the price 

 at which the ofial was disposed of. Again, he would have to run the 

 risk of violent fluctuations in the value of meat in the dead markets, 

 and of absolute losses from the carcases arriving in the metropolis 

 in warm weather in bad condition. But how is the offal to be 

 disposed of? Additional tanneries, soap-works, and boiling-houses 

 would be necessary in the vicinity of large towns, and the organiza- 

 tion of the works required would be highly expensive. Admitting 

 that a portion of the offal may be used on the spot for local purposes 

 — what is to become of the remainder ? Agents would be despatched 

 from the metropolis to piu'chase rough fat, hides, skins, &c., but, 

 owing to the heavy railway charges, they could only offer low prices 

 for them. 



But it may be said that the proposed system has long worked well 

 in Scotland, Yorkshire, and the W'Cst of England, from whence we 

 have long drawn very large quantities of dead meat for consumption 

 in the metropolis. It must, however, be understood that the offal 

 in Scotland, Yorkshire, and the west of England is readily used up. 

 Most of the wool and hides produced in Scotland are there converted 

 into use ; whilst in the west of England, nearly the whole of the 



VOL. II. — S. S. 2 M 



