114 EQUIPMENT 



which are valueless for anything but slaughter. If 

 the slaughter of cattle were practised, the normal, 

 annual supply to the butcher would represent at least 

 10 per cent, of the total number of animals. These 

 facts are the more remarkable at the present time 

 when the price of meat all over the world has gone 

 up to double of what it was a few years ago. In 

 countries where cattle are regularly slaughtered the 

 products of slaughter consist of the meat, hides, horns, 

 hooves, bones, sinews and blood. In India the hides 

 and a limited quantity of bones bring in some profit. 

 The other products are wasted, except in so far as the 

 very restricted operations of butchers in a few large 

 centres are concerned. The loss resulting to the 

 Bombay Presidency from the neglect to utilise these 

 products amounts to crores of rupees annually, and 

 the loss does not end with the potential value of the 

 otherwise useless animals ; for the latter continue to 

 eke out a miserable existence and consume the fodder 

 required for the support of the useful animals. 

 Further, it is only by the slaughter of unfit animals 

 that selection of the best animals can be satisfactorily 

 made for breeding purposes, and the race improved. 

 In the absence of slaughter adequate selection becomes 

 impossible. "With Hindus religious sentiment in this 

 matter outweighs all other considerations. The eco- 

 nomic facts, however, remain, though they may be 

 ignored. 



In striking contrast to the absence of demand for 

 meat in India, the demand for milk and milk products 



