LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL. 37 and 38 Vict., c. 67. Bye-laws for Slaughterhouses in the County of London. In pursuance of the Slaughterhouses, &c. (Metropolis), Act, 1874, and of the Local Government Act, 1888, the London County Council hereby make the following Byelaws for regulating (a) The conduct of the business of a slaughterer of cattle; and (b) The structure of the premises in which such business is being carried on; Bye-laws for Regulating the Conduct of the Business of a Slaughterer of Cattle in the 1. Every occupier of a slaughterhouse (a) Shall cause all animals intended for slaughter to be kept upon the premises only in pounds, pens, or lairs. (b) He shall not keep in a slaughterhouse, or in such pounds, pens, or lairs any animals not intended for slaughter, or any animals the flesh of which would be unfit for use as human food. (c) He shall not keep in such pounds, pens, or lairs a greater number of animals than is herein provided, that is to say 1. In the case of cattle, one animal to every twenty-four square feet of floor space therein. 2. In the case of calves, one animal to every eight square feet of floor space therein. 3. In the case of sheep, lambs and pigs, one animal to every six square feet of floor space therein. (d) He shall not keep therein any animals for a longer period than may be necessary for the purpose of preparing such animals for slaughter. (e) He shall provide such animals with a sufficient quantity of wholesome water and food. 2. Every occupier of a Slaughterhouse (a) Shall slaughter all animals in the slaughterhouse, and shall not slaughter or (b) He shall, in slaughtering animals use such instruments and appliances, and (d) He shall provide sufficient vessels or receptacles, properly constructed of (e) He shall, upon the completion of any slaughtering, cause all manure, garbage, filth, or any refuse residues from the animals slaughtered, to be forthwith placed in such vessels or receptacles. (f) He shall cause such vessels or receptacles to be kept closed while containing any of the aforesaid substances. (9) He shall cause all such substances to be removed and conveyed from the premises in such closed receptacles. (h) He shall cause the fat of any animal slaughtered to be kept freely exposed to the air while upon the premises. (i) He shall cause all blood, manure, garbage, filth, or any refuse residues from animals slaughtered, and all hides, skin, fat, and offal therefrom, to be removed from the premises within twenty-four hours of the completion of slaughtering, in such manner and by such means as will not cause nuisance either at the premises or in the public streets. (k) He shall, as far as is reasonably practicable, prevent any blood, manure, garbage, filth, or any refuse residues from animals slaughtered entering any drain or sewer, or any inlet to any drain or sewer. 3. Every occupier of a Slaughterhouse (a) Shall cause every part of the floor of such slaughterhouse, and every other internal part of such slaughterhouse, and also the fittings thereof, upon which any blood, or refuse, or filth may have been spilled, splashed, or deposited, to be thoroughly washed and cleansed within three hours after the completion of any slaughtering. (b) He shall cause every part of such floor and all internal walls and fittings within six feet of such floor to be at all times kept in good order and repair, so as to prevent the absorption therein of any blood, or liquid refuse, or filth. (c) He shall not permit the surfaces of the walls and fittings within six feet of the floor to be covered with cementwash, limewash, or other like substance. (d) He shall cause all utensils, receptacles, and appliances used in such business to be kept, when not in actual use, in a thoroughly clean condition. (e) He shall cause all internal walls and fittings of such slaughterhouse not within six feet of the ground, and the internal walls and fittings of any pound, pen, or lair, to be thoroughly limewashed with hot limewash at least four times in every year that is to say, between the 1st and the 10th days of the months of March, June, September, and December respectively. (f) He shall cause all dung and offensive litter to be swept up and removed from every pound, pen, or lair at least once a day, and such place to be thoroughly cleansed as often as may be necessary to keep the same in a clean condition. 4. Every occupier of a Slaughterhouse (a) Shall cause the means of ventilation provided thereto, and to any pound, pen, or lair to be kept in proper order and efficient action so that at all times such slaughterhouse, pound, pen or lair shall be effectually ventilated by direct communication with the external air. (b) He shall cause the means of drainage provided in or upon his premises to be kept at all times in proper order. (e) He shall cause the means of water supply provided upon his premises to be kept in proper order, and shall at all times provide a sufficient supply of water for the proper cleansing of his slaughterhouse, pounds, pens, or lairs, and of the vessels and receptacles therein. 5. Every occupier of a Slaughterhouse (a) Shall allow the slaughterhouse to be used for no other purpose than the slaughtering and dressing of animals the flesh of which is fit for, and is intended to be sold as, human food. (b) He shall allow no person other than himself and his servants to slaughter animals or dress the carcases thereof upon his premises, unless he is authorised to do so by the Council in writing. 6. Every occupier of a Slaughterhouse shall at all times employ such means and adopt such precautions as may be necessary for preventing nuisance arising upon his premises. 7. Every occupier of a Slaughterhouse shall at all reasonable times afford free access to every part of his premises to the Inspectors and other persons authorised by the Council in writing to inspect slaughterhouses, and he shall enable such Inspectors or other persons to examine the premises without obstruction or unnecessary delay. 8. Every person breaking any of the foregoing Bye-laws shall be liable for every offence to a penalty of not exceeding Five pounds; and in the case of a continuing offence to a penalty of One pound for every day during which the offence may be continued after conviction for the first offence. 9. In pursuance of the provision in that behalf contained in Section 4 of the Slaughterhouses, &c., Metropolis Act, 1874, power is hereby given to every Court of Summary Jurisdiction, by summary order, to suspend or deprive any person altogether of the right of carrying on the business of a Slaughterer of Cattle, as a penalty for breaking any of the foregoing Bye-laws. Bye-laws for Regulating the Structure of the Premises upon which the Business of a Slaughterer of Cattle is being carried on in the County of London. 10. Every such premises shall include a Slaughterhouse and one or more pounds, pens, or lairs, and (a) Such slaughterhouse shall have a floor space of at least one hundred square feet, and the walls thereof to a height of six feet from the ground shall be substantially constructed of brick, stone, iron or concrete; and such slaughterhouse shall be covered with a properly constructed roof. (b) Such pounds, pens, or lairs shall be separated from such slaughterhouse by means of close partitions to a height of at least five feet in the case of cattle, and at least three feet in the case of sheep, lambs and pigs, and all doors in such partitions shall be closely boarded." (c) Such premises shall have an approach to the slaughterhouse which shall be throughout of a width of at least three feet six inches, and such approach shall not be up or down steps, or over slopes having a steeper gradient than one foot in four feet; provided that where sheep, lambs and pigs only are killed, the width of the approach shall be at least two feet nine inches throughout. 11. Every Slaughterhouse and pound, pen, or lair upon such premises(a) Shall be well and sufficiently lighted and ventilated by louvred openings in the walls and roofs, or by other approved openings, windows, or lights. (b) Shall be well paved with granite, cement, concrete, or with other approved hard and impervious material set with cement properly bedded on concrete; and such paving shall have a proper slope towards a gully-hole; and such gully-hole shall communicate by an adequate drain of glazed stoneware pipes with the public sewer, and be trapped by an appropriate fixed trap, and be covered with a fixed grating, the bars of which shall be not more than inch apart. (c) Shall be provided with means for an adequate supply of water; and where there is not a constant water supply, with a slate, metal, or metallic-lined tank, the bottom of which shall be not less than six feet from the floor; and such tank shall be properly covered, and an adequate water trough shall be in every pound, pen, or lair. 12. Every Slaughterhouse shall have the inner walls, doors, and woodwork covered with hard, smooth, and impervious material to a height of at least six feet from the floor. 13. A Slaughterhouse shall not have any rooms or lofts thereover, and a slaughterhouse, pound, pen, or lair (a) Shall not have any openings therefrom directly into any building used as a dwelling. (b) Shall not contain any water-closet, privy, urinal, or stable; and a watercloset, privy, urinal or stable shall not be in direct communication with, or ventilate into, any slaughterhouse. 14. Every person who shall not comply with any of the foregoing Bye-laws relating to the structure of the premises shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable, for every such offence, to a penalty of not exceeding Five pounds, and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a penalty of One pound for every day during which the offence may be continued after the conviction for the first offence. Provided always, that the foregoing Bye-laws for regulating the structure of the premises shall not, until after the expiration of six months from the date of the confirmation of the Bye-laws, be deemed to apply to any premises where at such date the business of a Slaughterer of Cattle may be carried on; and further provided, that a requirement of such Bye-laws for regulating the structure of the premises shall not be deemed to apply to any premises in respect of which the London County Council shall have, by endorsement in writing on the back of any current license to use such premises as a slaughterhouse, exempted such premises from such requirement. Bye-laws for Regulating the Mode in which Application is to be made for Sanction to Establish Anew the Business of a Slaughterer of Cattle in the County of London. 15. Every person applying for such sanction (a) Shall furnish, in the form prescribed by the Council, the particulars specified in such form, as to the situation of the premises, and as to the arrangement and construction of the buildings in which such business is proposed to be established. (b) He shall also furnish a plan of such premises and sections of the buildings, drawn to a scale of one-eighth of an inch to one foot, showing the buildings proposed to be used as slaughterhouse, pounds, pens or lairs, their construction, the provision for drainage, and the means proposed for lighting and ventilation. (e) He shall also furnish a key plan of the locality, showing the site, and all buildings, dwellings, streets and places within 250 yards of such site, and such key plan shall be drawn to a scale of five feet to one mile. Repeal. In further pursuance of the Acts aforesaid, the said London County Council hereby repeal the Bye-laws regulating the conduct of the business of a Slaughterer of Cattle, the structure of the premises on which such business is being carried on, and the mode in which application is to be made for sanction to establish such business anew, made on the seventh day of May, 1875, by the Metropolitan Board of Works, and confirmed by the Local Government Board on the twenty-seventh day of May, 1875. (187) Knackers' Yards. The same principles previously detailed as to the slaughtering of cattle are also applicable to knackers' yards, or, as they are otherwise called, "knackeries." But there is this difference between the two: the slaughterer of cattle is presumed to kill healthy animals, the knacker those that are old or diseased; added to which, the knacker usually unites with his business the offensive operation of boiling a large quantity of the flesh and offal for cats' meat. A well-managed knacker's yard in close vicinity to houses must itself be considered a nuisance, provided there is much business done. It cannot but be detrimental to health to have a collection of diseased material-such as horses suffering from glanders and farcy or tuberculosis, or animals with suppurating sores-within a short distance of dwelling-houses; and it may be taken as a general advice to a sanitary authority to oppose the establishment of any new business of the kind within a quarter of a mile of any collection of inhabited houses. The following are the regulations in force in the metropolis as to knackeries: LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL. THE SLAUGHTERHOUSES, &c. (METROPOLIS), ACT, 1874, 37 and 38 Vic., c. 67. BYE-LAWS for regulating the conduct of the business of a Knacker, i.e., a person whose business it is to slaughter any horse, ass, or mule, or any cattle, sheep, goat, or swine, which is not killed for the purpose of its flesh being used as butcher's meat, and the structure of the premises on which such business is being carried on, within the limits of the Metropolis (except the City of London and the liberties thereof). In pursuance of the above Act, by which the Metropolitan Board of Works1 is constituted the Local Authority for the Metropolis, as defined in the said Act (except the City of London and the liberties thereof), the said Metropolitan Board of Works1 (for the purposes of these Bye-laws called the " Board") doth hereby make the following Bye-Laws. Throughout and for the purposes of these Bye-Laws "the premises" shall mean and include the slaughterhouse, and all the premises used for and forming part of the business of a Knacker as defined by the Act, and "slaughterhouse" shall mean the portion of the premises used for the slaughtering and dressing of the animals above-mentioned, and "occupier" shall mean the occupier of premises where the business of a Knacker is carried on, and "contagious or infectious disease shall include Cattle Plague, Pleuro-pneumonia, Foot and Mouth Disease, Sheep Pox, Sheep Scab, Glanders, and Farcy. As to the Conduct of the Business of a Knacker. 1. The occupier shall not slaughter, or permit to be slaughtered, on the premises any animal that is intended or fit to be used for human food, nor keep or permit to be kept, any fowl, pig, or other animal used for human food in or about the premises nor any dog thereon. 2. The occupier shall not allow any room situated over a slaughterhouse to be inhabited under any pretext whatsoever. 3. The occupier shall not allow the slaughterhouse to be used for any purpose other than that for which it is licensed, nor any slaughtering to be conducted within public view. 4. The occupier shall keep the inner walls of the slaughterhouse always thoroughly clean and in good order and repair, and shall cause the internal surface of the roof and upper portions of the walls to be thoroughly washed with quicklime, at least once in every three months, and he shall also keep every yard and other part of the premises clear. 5. The occupier shall provide and keep a sufficient number of tubs, boxes, or vessels, formed out of proper non-absorbent materials, with tight and close-fitting covers thereto, for the purpose of receiving and conveying away all manure, garbage, offal, and filth; and shall, in all cases, immediately after the slaughtering is completed, cause all such manure, garbage, offal, and filth to be placed in such tubs, boxes, and vessels; and shall cause all the blood arising from the slaughtering to be put into separate tubs or vessels formed out of the like materials as above with closefitting covers; and every such tub, box, and vessel, together with their contents, to be removed from the premises within twenty-four hours. 6. The occupier shall keep every covered and other receptacle used in the slaughterhouse at all times thoroughly cleansed and purified, so as to prevent any offensive smell. 7. The occupier shall cause every boiler and vessel from which any offensive or noxious vapour or gas may be evolved in the operation of boiling or otherwise, to be covered over and constructed so that every such gas and vapour shall be effectually conveyed into or through a furnace-fire, or shall be otherwise prevented from escaping into the external atmosphere. 8. The occupier shall cause every hide and skin to be removed from the premises 1 Read now London County Council. |