The accommodation for discharging, lairing, slaughtering and storing at the foreign animals' wharfs, Birkenhead / by Francis Vacher.

  • Vacher, Francis, 1843-1914.
Date:
[1882]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The accommodation for discharging, lairing, slaughtering and storing at the foreign animals' wharfs, Birkenhead / by Francis Vacher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    scheduled as infected can of course only be discharged at a Foreign Animals’ Wharf, and as 300 head or more fre- quently arrive by a single vessel, and all are required to be slaughtered at the Avharf within fourteen days, the necessity for having ample accommodation is evident. All animals landed from infected countries are carefully Inspected in the lairages, and on showing the slightest indi- cation of disease are slaughtered under supervision and sub- jected to a careful 'post mortem examination. When animals are found to be infected Avith epizootic disease, notice of the same is telegraphed to the Privy Council Office in London, and small portions of the viscera regarded as evidence of the disease are fonvarded to the veterinary department for A'eri- fication. Condemned carcases are buried in quicklime or otherwise destroyed. When the Foreign Animals’ Wharf becomes infected, the pi’emises are specially disinfected under competent direction, and the blood, manure, offal, &c., is mixed Avith large quantities of lime and taken out to sea. Arrangements are also made for fumigating the clothes, &c., of slaughtermen and others employed in manipulating in- fected material. Within the last fcAV days has been completed an im- portant addition to the accommodation at Woodside. Immediately to the west of the meat stores four large chill chambei’s haA'e been constructed, each estimated to be cap- able of holding 500 sides of beef. These are in connection Avith a dry air refrigerator, the patent of Mr. A. S. Haslam, of Derby, Avhich discharges into the chambers (at the rate of 40,000 cub. ft. ])er hour) a continuous stream of air at a tenq)erature of 40“ to 60“ Fahr. beloAV zero. It is scarcely necessary to point out Avhat a great gain this Avill be not only to consignees and buyers, but also from a sanitary point of vicAv. When during hot Aveather stock-carrying vessels arriAm in rapid succession, and every beast must be slaughtered Avithin a fortnight after landing, some storing accommoda- tion beyond that afforded by the ordinary meat stores is a desideratum, and the want is noAv supplied. The chambers are constructed with great care, the walls being good non- conductors and the doors fitting closely. The doors for taking in are at the south side, and the meat can be con- A’eyed straight from the slaughter-houses, through the stores to the chambers by the overhead runners. The doors at the north side are for discharging, and as they open on a branch line the foreign meat can be loaded on railway trucks at once.