Plenty of light is essential, but the rays of the sun should be excluded by frosted glass or other contrivance, or the goods exposed for sale will be damaged.
The floor should be of asphalte or other similar material; it is surprising what a “mess” is always made in a market.
The stalls must be so arranged as to show to best advantage the goods offered, and plenty of “gangway” should be left between them for the passage of the public.
Fish stalls should be constructed of iron, slate or similar material, plenty of water being provided in this department; fish-washing troughs filled with running water are very desirable, and a fountain can be introduced with pleasing effect.
Butchers’ stalls should be of thick wood to resist the chopping, and plenty of standards and rails provided with iron hooks must be fixed above them.
A great number of moveable iron “offal boxes” should be placed in different parts of the market, which must be cleared at least once a day, and the market should be frequently flushed and cleansed with water from hydrants fixed in different parts of the building.
Many other points will no doubt suggest themselves to town surveyors, who have the important work of designing either cattle or general markets to undertake, but the few suggestions which have been given may be of some use.
[229] The following is a description of the manner in which the sheep are penned in the cattle market of la Villette at Paris:—“The enclosures or pens are all of iron, those for the sheep have a centre railing 3 feet 3 inches high, and cross railings 1 foot 9 inches high; the former with three horizontal rails and vertical rods, and the latter two horizontal rails and vertical rods. There is a distance of 15 feet betwixt the high railings, which is divided into three by iron posts 21 inches high. The first row of these posts is placed at a distance of 3 feet from the low cross railing at the passage, the second row 18 inches from the first, the third 3 feet from the second, and so on. The sheep are placed in line side by side as close as they can stand, with their heads up to the low rail. A moveable hurdle of wood is then set on edge between the sheep in rear and the iron posts just described. A passage of 18 inches is left clear, and then another row of sheep and another passage, and so on. In this manner a great number of sheep are put into little space, in such a way as all can be examined with the greatest ease.” (Vide ‘Report on the New Cattle Market and Abattoirs proposed to be erected at Carolina Port, Dundee,’ by W. Mackison, F.R.I.B.A., &c., Town Surveyor, Dundee).