Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

THE MARKETS OF THE METROPOLIS. 253 six approaches is in full swing and so remains until about eight. Large as is the scale of transactions at the Central Markets, there is no over- crowding. How different is the scene, with all its activity, from that which was wit- nessed before Sir Horace Jones’s building was raised, and when Smithfield was the home of the old Cattle Market! That until the middle of the nineteenth century the authorities should have allowed some two million animals to be driven through the streets of the City ’in the course of the year on their way to and from the Cattle Market says much for their con- servatism and for the tolerance of the public. At last, however, though the City Fathers were in favour of letting things alone, the public would have no more of it, and in 1855 the Cattle Market was removed to Copenhagen Pields, Islington, where the Corporation had enclosed for the purpose an area some thirty acres in extent. As things have turned out, the accommodation here provided is in excess of the requirements, owing to the development of the foreign meat trade. Business at Islington is still, however, conducted on a considerable, though a gradually diminish- ing scale. Toll is annually paid on six hundred thousand animals, and, including the licensed drovers, some fifteen hundred “ hands ” find more or less regular employ- ment here. A considerable proportion of the animals that change hands never leave the market alive. Thus in 1901 close upon 170,000 cattle, sheep, and pigs ended their careers in the slaughter-houses belonging to the market. That the Veterinary Inspector and his staff subject all cattle entering the market to severe scrutiny, to ensure that such as are unfit for food shall not find their way to our tables, may go without saying. In the course of the year some twelve hundred carcasses or parts of carcasses are con- demned. Sure work is made of unsound animals, which are at once slaughtered and the carcasses destroyed. The most interesting feature of the Metropolitan Cattle Market to those who are not bent on the driving of bargains over live stock is the scrap market, held on Fridays. No one who has ever seen the bewildering variety of things exposed in this market for second-hand articles would ever think of attempting to answer the question, “ What can be bought here ? ” Rather would he say, “ Ask me what can not be bought here.” It is curious to find from Mr. Charles Booth’s monumental work on “ Life and Labour of the People in London,” which is a mine of information on the markets of London in their industrial aspect, that the drovers licensed by the City Corpora- tion are for the most part not country- bred but Londoners. They begin, it seems, as ochre-boys—that is, they mark beasts for the butchers with ochre. On reaching years of discretion, having picked up a knowledge of the drovers’ craft, they obtain from the Corporation, subject to the pay- ment of a small fee and to proof of good character, a licence, and so become full- fledged drovers. When it became necessary under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1869, to provide accommodation for the slaughter of foreign animals brought into the Port of London, the City Corporation acquired the larger part of the old dockyard at Deptford, and spent nearly ,£150,000 in adapting it to its new uses, in addition to the £95,000 paid for the property. At present about a quarter of a million animals are landed at the jetties in the course of the year, but the number varies a good deal; and two years ago, before the im- portation of cattle from Argentina was prohibited owing to an outbreak of foot- and-mouth disease, it was close upon half- a-million. As all animals landed here have to be killed in the market within ten days of their arrival, it is not surprising that there are as many as seventy slaughter- houses, or that over a thousand men are employed in connection with the market. Covered lairage is provided for 8,000 bul- locks and 20,000 sheep, and, including- extensions, the refrigerating chambers allow of 4,000 sides of beef being chilled every twenty-four hours. All the markets mentioned hitherto are the property of the City Corporation, and into the same category comes the Leaden- hall Market, for poultry, game, etc., most