Mr. Chadwick said he had listened to the paper with great satisfaction, as it was connected with a subject to which he had devoted his most anxious attention. The evils of this kind which Buonaparte removed in Paris, still remained in great force in London, and he feared it would need a power as absolute as that of Napoleon to eradicate them.
The subject had attracted the attention of Mr. Chadwick's colleagues on the Sanitary Commission, and its consideration had only been postponed, on account of other, though not more important inquiries. The chief difficulty, both in the metropolis, and in other parts of England, was, he believed, rather administrative, than arising from a want of perception of the great convenience abattoirs would offer in avoiding dirt and filth, disturbance in the streets, scenes of brutality, and the existence of a number of ill-conditioned places which the present system perpetuated. The great evil, however, connected with the actual existence of slaughter-houses in the interior of towns, was that arising from the various offensive trades, such as tallow-melting, cat-gut making, &c., which were necessarily established in the immediate vicinity, and which eventually became more objectionable than the slaughter-houses themselves. One of the most important effects to be anticipated from the removal of the slaughter-houses, would evidently be the transfer of all the trades connected with them to some less densely populated neighbourhoods.
The objection of the butchers in England (who as a body were not so united as in France), to such an establishment as that at Islington was, that they were only exchanging the control of one irresponsible body for another, namely, from the Corporation of the City to a Joint Stock Company. Now the real danger to the public, might be in trusting the butchers themselves with too much power; but that objection could be removed by legislative enactments, and an adaptation of the foreign system to the English trade, which would no doubt take place.
It had been expected, that the railways would bring a large quantity of killed meat to the London market; hitherto, however, that anticipation had not been realized, and it had been stated, that the meat did not travel well, in consequence of inadequate accommodation for its carriage; but such a reason could not be permitted long to interfere, as the ingenuity of the carriage builder would soon remedy that defect.
He thought Mr. Grantham had done well to bring the general question before the Institution, and hoped that good would result from its discussion.
