172 ANIMALS WASTED BY WAR. 



certain of them would have to be duplicated, but the demand 

 for animals for repatriation and for purposes of food reduced 

 the necessity for further " Economiser" arrangements. 

 The necessary plant consisted of : — 

 Skinning platforms (concrete). 



Boiling Tanks (2) galvanised iron, 500-1000 gallons, 



for bones, eiitrails, etc. 

 Boiler for Steam. 



Small petrol engine for driving machinery. 

 " I.W.E.L." dryer, steam pressure, for desiccating flesh. 

 Turbine Fat Extractor (750 revolutions per minute) . 

 Eevolving meat cutter. 

 Bone crusher. 



Skin Curing room (cemented floors). 

 Store room for desiccated flesh, oil drums, etc. 

 Office. 



Extras, i.e., Decauville line and trucks to manure dump. 

 The total cost of an installation was from £1000 to £1200, 

 but the special machinery — the Dryers, Turbine Fat Extractors; 

 Meat Cutters, and Bone Crushers, were presented byi^the Eoyal 

 Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals at a cost of 

 £500 each set. 



There was no difliculty in getting expert skinners, and 

 Prisoners of War assisted. 



Arrangements were made to screen off the skinning platforms 

 as much as possible from the chamber in which animals were 

 destroyed, or where working teams of horses visited. 



Hides, after being cured, were bundled and sent to England. 

 Between September 1916 and March 1919, 36,877 hides were 

 despatched. 



Carcases would yield from 3 to 5 gallons of oil. It realized 

 13 francs per gallon in Paris for soap manufacture. 



An average carcase would yield one hundred- weight of desic- 

 cated flesh, and it was sold in London for £31 per ton for pig 

 and poultry food, or for dog biscuits. It keeps perfectly good 

 and fresh for a long time, and there is no unpleasant smell. 



Bones, after boiling, were crushed and de-greased in the 

 Turbine Extractor and shipped to London, realizing there from 

 £7 to £15 per ton. 



