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68. Of course you believe in inspection ?—I do. 69. How do you think it is possible for the Inspector to inspect all the dead meat if every butcher or two kills in his own back-yard ?—How is it done in England ? 70. I only ask you if it is possible; Ido not know ?—Oh, yes !it is possible. 71. Supposing all the butchers wanted to kill at different hours, he could not be inspecting them all at the same time. The last witness said he represented sixty butchers. Now, it is utterly impossible for an Inspector to inspect them all at the same time. Say they all wanted to kill, he could not go round the sixty in an hour ?—I do not suppose he would, because these butchers do not want it. There are only five licenses, and the whole five come within a mile. 72. Then, a lot of butchers kill at the same slaughter!, use ?—No. I say only five—three in Parnell and two in Newmarket. 73. Could the man get round these within an hour or so .' —Well, I kill beasts myself for five butchers in Newmarket and Parnell at Ellerslie slaughterhouse. 74. Then, of course, that is five out of sixty ?—Yes. 75. If he stayed there half the day inspecting five he could not do the balance in the other halfday ?—He might arrange that I should kill one day and the others kill another. Of course, in the summer-time we have to do the best we can. 76. Hon. the Chairman.] Do half the butchers kill at the public abattoir?— Yes, about half— that is, the smaller butchers. William Bayly, representing the butchers of New Plymouth, stated, in reply to the Chairman, that he represented three butchers. I think the other witnesses have left me scarcely anything to say. They have gone through every section very carefully. I indorse the remarks of the two previous speakers, though Ido not belong to their district. As far as New Plymouth is concerned at the present time, we have three private slaughterhouses. There is no public slaughterhouse in New Plymouth. 77. Hon. the Chairman.] And what inspection?—No inspection whatever, and there never has been. 78. Not of the killed meat ? —No, nor yet the cattle before they have been killed. The only Inspector there is Mr. Orbell, who inspects cattle at the sale-yards. He is not appointed to inspect slaughterhouses, nor yet cattle that are slaughtered. I may state that I have been carrying on the business of butcher for the last seventeen years. I have never had a complaint. The public are not asking, so far as I know, for this Bill — for us all to kill at one slaughterhouse. I have been at my business for the whole of that time. I have 300 acres of land in connection with my slaughterhouse, where I can rest my cattle before they are killed. But I might state we are perfectly willing to have the strictest inspection for the benefit of the public at large. What we ask for is that the County Council or Borough Council should recommend three licenses instead of all killing at one place. I may state that my slaughtering establishment has cost me something like £700. I have water laid on, and I have a bone-mill and everything else up to date as far as it is possible to have it. As far as the great cry about diseased cattle is concerned, you must understand it is the old cows that are the diseased cattle of the district, not the cattle that are slaughtered. I instruct my foreman to destroy every beast that he sees is diseased, and during the last two years all we have come across were three, and I have killed 1,600 cattle. But I must also state that I am not situated quite as those gentlemen who have just given evidence. I graze my cattle myself, and I am most particular in buying young and good cattle. There has scarcely been any sign of tuberculosis seen in any of them. 79. Do you have to take out licenses ? —Yes, we take out licenses from the County Council, as I am just outside the borough. 80. About how many butchers are employed in Taranaki altogether ?—There are only three. 81. Mr. Lang.] That is, in New Plymouth ? —Yes, I am not taking in the country. 82. How far does the sale with carts go on in New Plymouth ?—There is nothing of that from the country. 83. Mr. Flatman.] I think I understood you to say you agreed with the two previous witnesses. You do not agree with the former witness, from Christchurch ? —I was not in the room when he gave evidence. 84. Do you agree with subclause (2) of clause 3 in the Bill ?—Well, I would say the farmer should be allowed to kill as much as he required for his own use. 85. But not for sale or barter?—No, not for sale or barter. 86. Mr. Brown.] In addition to the question just asked by Mr. Elatman, did Mr. Bayly notice that there is a proviso to this, that if a farmer kills one head of cattle and five other head of stock per week, he cannot sell any of his meat within any borough or town district, or within three miles of the nearest boundary thereof? You are aware of that?— Yes, I am. 87. You have no objection in the case of a person residing a long way off?—l would not object when they are in their own district. It does not interfere with me in my district. 88. Then the Committee is to understand you have no objection whatever to this inspection ?— I have asked the County Council to inspect. 89. Mr. Lang.] I ask the witness whether he considers the loss caused by cattle-disease should be borne out of the public revenue or by the butchers ?—Speaking of it personally, I would not ask it to be paid, because I do not buy my cattle out of the public yards, but take them off my own lands. lam quite willing to bear all the loss of any beast diseased on my farm. I have been in the grazing line all my days, and I think lam a very good judge of cattle. Any that are suspicious I shoot and bury, and, as far as I am concerned, they are done away with before they come to my slaughter-yard. 90. Mr. Buchanan.] What do you do with your offal ?—All the entrails I clean, boil, and give to the pigs; the blood I make into manure ; and the bones, of course, I crush up for selling for manure.