„ „ 7,000-10,000 „ . . 0.35 ,, „ „ 10,000-50,000 „ . . 0.30 ,, „ „ over 50,000 „ . . 0.25 „ In these figures it is assumed that the population derives the whole of its meat-supply from this source.
The parts required, according to Dr. Oscar Schwarz, are: (I) an administrative block; (2) a slaughtering-hall, with a special room for scalding swine ; (3) cattle lairs; (4) room for scalding and cleansing tripe and intestines; (5) an engine-house; (6) separate slaughtering-room, with lairs for animals suffering from, or suspected to be suffering from, contagious disease.
In small towns the slaughtering-hall and room for cleansing intestines may, to save cost of construction, be under the same roof. A necessary adjunct is a cold chamber, to which carcases can be removed from the slaughtering-hail. The actual slaughtering compartment has been built on two plans—one providing a sepa rate slaughtering-room for each butcher, the other a common slaughtering-hall. The latter is greatly to be preferred, inasmuch as it is the only arrangement which gives adequate opportunity for inspection by the officials whose duty it is to examine the meat. The slaughter-house in Berlin was constructed on the separate room system ; but the system gave rise to difficulties of inspection. During recent years in Germany the practice has been to construct slaughter-houses with common halls. Schwarz gives the following as the most convenient arrangement of the buildings : The adminis trative building (with the house of the superintendent) at the en trance, so that from it the entrance and whole place can be seen. In the vicinity should be a weighing-machine for cattle. The centre of the area is occupied by the slaughtering-halls, and the lairs belonging to them are only separated from them by a road or passage way. The manure-house and tripe-house must be easily accessible from all the slaughtering-halls, but not in direct com munication with them.
The manure-house must abut upon a road, to enable its contents to be removed without passing through the premises. Next to the tripe and pig-scalding houses is the engine-house. The building for diseased animals, with the slaughter-house for them, must be isolated from all other buildings. All buildings should be so ar ranged that they may be capable of extension as the population of the town increases. Cold chambers, although not absolutely es sential for small slaughter-houses, are necessary when the slaugh ter-house is of any size. The cold chamber should be situated opposite the slaughtering-halls, so that carcases can be conveyed by overhead carriers directly from these halls to it. Great atten tion should be paid to adequate lighting and ventilation, the con struction of walls, floors and fittings which are impermeable and can be readily cleansed, and the provision of an abundant water supply. The floor of the slaughtering-hall is cement or granolithic
pavement which must not be so smooth as to be slippery. The floor must have an adequate fall, so that the washings may dis charge into the drainage.
Slaughter-houses in Germany pay their own expenses, the fees received for the use of the slaughter-house, and for examination of meat and stamping after examination, providing a sufficient sum for this purpose. The fees vary in different places.
The corporation of the City of London have erected a slaughter house at their cattle market in Islington in which slaughtering is done in a large hall divided by partitions into separate compart ments. The compartments are not let to separate butchers but are used in common. The partitions do not extend to the ceiling, but are sufficiently high to prevent the slaughtering in one compart ment being seen by the occupants of other compartments, and thus they necessarily provide less opportunity for inspection than is afforded by the open-slaughtering halls of Germany. The accom modation is estimated as sufficient for the slaughter of 400 cattle, 1,200 sheep and 1,200 calves and pigs per day.