Under the peculiar and exceptional circumstances of the case before us, the question of dimensions so completely underlies the whole contention, that I earnestly hope your Committee will call the particular attention of the Local Government Board to the _size_ of these small Slaughter-houses, as shown on the Plan made to scale by your Engineer, and forwarded to the Board some time ago [a copy of which, upon a reduced scale, is appended hereto]; for I can scarcely imagine that the Board have the least idea of the diminutive space in which slaughtering _on a large scale is going on night and day_ in defiance of the principles of health or humanity. The Board should also be informed that the slaughtering effected in these places extends far beyond the requirements of the neighbourhood, and that the plea of the Butchers that they provide marketable commodities suitable to the necessities of the poor of their locality is essentially unsound, from an economical point of view, it having been found in places where Abattoirs obtain, that the poor readily follow any market which offers them pecuniary advantages. I now proceed to notice the various “objections” advanced in the letter of the “Butchers’ Trade Society”:--They relate, for the most part, to the _structural_ repairs rendered necessary by the present ruinous condition of the Aldgate Slaughter-houses generally, which, in spite of admitted neglect, due to their owners having expected their demolition in 1874, when the Act of 1834 affecting Slaughter-houses expired, are now resisted upon the score of expense. FOOTNOTES: [1] These Slaughter-houses are really in Portsoken Ward, but they are always quoted as of Aldgate Ward, and will be so described in this Report to avoid confusion. REPLY TO “OBJECTIONS” OF THE “BUTCHERS’ TRADE SOCIETY” TO THE BYE-LAWS. BYE-LAW I. That each Slaughter-house be paved with asphalte, laid with proper slopes and channels towards a trapped gully, and, where practicable, such gully shall be outside the Slaughter-house and Pound. OBJECTIONS.[2] _The Butchers demur, firstly, to the use of asphalte, and, secondly, to the gully being placed outside the Slaughter-house._ REPLY. The reason for insisting upon _asphalte_ is to avoid _joints_, which are inevitable in every other kind of pavement. The joints in stone pavements, however well laid, cannot be made durable, owing to the frequent concussions produced by the animals falling heavily and suddenly when pole-axed, and the joints being once cracked or broken readily admit through their interstices every kind of liquid filth, which accumulates in the subsoil and decomposes there. The flooring of the present Slaughter-houses in Aldgate is composed of small, and badly laid, flag-stones, &c., which are loose, broken, and uneven in many places, and which cannot be properly cleansed on account of the inequalities of the surfaces.