Municipal and Official Handbook of the City of Auckland, New Zealand/Abattoir
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ABATTOIR, OTAHUHU.
ABATTOIR.
Prior to the passing of "The Slaughtering and Inspection Act, 1908," it was customary for the butchers to do their own slaughtering, the slaughterhouse, Richmond, being largely used for this purpose, although some did their work under most insanitary conditions, in backyards, stables, etc. In 1907 the City Council decided that the premises at Richmond were totally unsuitable and inadequate, and that a new and up-to-date abattoir was essential.
A new site, of about 27 acres, was acquired at Westfield, near Otahuhu, on the Main Trunk Railway, about 8 miles from the centre of the city. This property is favourably situated for an abattoir, being a very narrow strip of land lying between the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours. The situation, exposed as it is to the prevailing westerly wind, ensures a cool breeze on the warmest day in summer, which is very beneficial to the meat; fresh, cool air being a well known preservative.
A loan of £26,000 was raised for the purchase of the land and the erection of the necessary buildings. Building operations were commenced in 1907, and in 1908, the loan proving insufficient, a further £9,000 was obtained. The building was completed and opened to the master butchers for killing in the early part of 1909.
The buildings erected at that time consisted of the main slaughter hall and hanging room. Substantially built of brick, 2 feet thick, and concrete covered, this hall has sufficient space for 20 slaughtermen to work, and the following stock can be conveniently hung after slaughter, pending removal to town—viz., 120 beef, 100 veal, 100 pork, 800 mutton and lamb. At both ends of this hall are large rooms used for the handling of by-products. The office block, almost as substantially built as the slaughter hail, is conveniently situated to the north-west of the main building, and consists of the manager's office, the general office, and a small laboratory, wherein first aid can be rendered to the injured. At the southern end, across the road that encircles the abattoir, is situated the wooden block, where the Government meat inspectors and contract slaughtermen have their offices, and the workmen their luncheon room. Change and bath rooms, clothes drying room, and the usual offices are under the same roof as the slaughter hall. Immediately behind the main building are the sheep and cattle drafting yards and shelter sheds. Fat stock sales are held on Wednesday of each week at the saleyards, which practically adjoin the abattoir grounds, and stock bought by the butchers are held and fed by the Council, pending slaughter. Cottages for the stockman, foreman contractor, and a two storeyed house for the Manager of the Abattoir comprise the remaining buildings on the abattoir ground. The remainder of the land is in natural grass 
ABATTOIR: EXTERIOR.
ABATTOIR: INTERIOR.
and plantation, and is used exclusively for grazing stock.
Stock killed at the Auckland Municipal Abattoir for the year ending 31st March, 1921, comprised 20,650 cattle, 8,290 calves, 11,516 pigs, 98,498 sheep, and 16,528 lambs. The revenue derived from the slaughter of this stock was £18,949 4s 9d, which does not include fees paid by firms killing for local consumption at their own slaughterhouse, or for meat supplied locally by either of the freezing works. Charges for killing, etc., are regulated by by-laws.
Up to September, 1921, the Council employed its own slaughtermen, etc., but since that date the slaughtering has been done by contractors, who are also responsible to the Council for the delivery of the meat killed to the correct owners. The present general system is to load meat killed on a certain day in the early hours of the following morning. The Railway Department supplies a sufficient number of ventilated meat wagons for this purpose, but many of the butchers prefer to have their meat carried into town by motor wagon. With the advent of better roads, it is anticipated that the latter method will become general, ensuring, as it does, more speedy delivery to the shops and avoiding the repeated handling which carriage by rail necessitates.
The by-products are sold by the Council on behalf of the butchers, and are disposed of by contract, the contractors paying the Council, and the Council crediting the butchers monthly.
The Abattoir is subject to inspection by the Department of Agriculture, which supplies qualified Inspectors to examine all stock killed. Stock inspectors also make a regular ante-mortem inspection of stock offered at the fat stock sales, and condemn all stock, before slaughter, whose condition warrants it. Stock condemned at the Abattoir does not become a total loss to the owner, a small amount, in most cases, being paid as compensation by the Government, the balance, over and above the small sum obtained from the sale of the diseased meat, being met by the Condemned Stock Insurance Fund, to which the majority of the butchers contribute.
The drainage of the Abattoir is easily dealt with, on account of its position on the foreshore of the Manukau Harbour. Having nothing more offensive to deal with than the effluent from the septic tanks and the water from washing down the Abattoir, a holding tank which debouches its contents daily on the ebb tide is the extremely simple and effective method of dealing with this most important matter.
The chief factor in the cleanliness of an Abattoir and the health of stock is water. When the Abattoir was first started, a supply of water was obtained from a well in close proximity, but this supply was found to be most unsatisfactory, being strongly impregnated with oxide, which left a red deposit wherever used, and was full of vegetable poison, which soon caused heavy mortality amongst—the stock Arrangements were quickly made to bring a supply of pure water from Onehunga, a distance of nearly 4 miles.
At the present time, plans are being prepared by the City Engineer for the remodelling of the Abattoir, which will convert it into the largest and most up-to-date slaughter house in the Dominion. Provision is being made for twice as much hanging space as now exists, additional killing space, and a chilling room. The lack of a chiller has long been a stumbling block to the more rapid expansion of this branch of municipal enterprise.