Under certain conditions urban authorities are empowered to provide markets in their district by the following clause of the Public Health Act 1875:

“Where an urban authority are a local board or improvement commissioners, they shall have power, with the consent of the owners and ratepayers of their district, expressed by resolution passed in manner provided by Schedule III. to this Act, and where the urban authority are a town council they shall have power, with the consent of two thirds of their number, to do the following things, or any of them, within their district:

“To provide a market place, and construct a market house and other conveniences, for the purpose of holding markets:

“To provide houses and places for weighing carts:

“To make convenient approaches to such market:

“To provide all such matters and things as may be necessary for the convenient use of such market:

“To purchase or take on lease land, and public or private rights in markets and tolls for any of the foregoing purposes:

“To take stallages, rents and tolls in respect of the use by any person of such market:

“But no market shall be established in pursuance of this section so as to interfere with any rights, powers, or privileges enjoyed within the district by any person without his consent” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 166).

In many towns, markets both for cattle and general merchandise have been already established, and the duties of the town surveyor are simply to execute the necessary alterations and maintenance of the buildings in connection with them, but there may be occasions on which he has to advise his corporation upon the acquisition of land for the purpose of laying it out as a cattle market, and afterwards the erection of the necessary pens and buildings, and a few remarks upon the subject may be of some service.

The site for a cattle market should be selected, if practicable, near to a railway station, so as to avoid as much as possible the dangerous and objectionable practice of driving cattle and sheep through the streets, and for the same reasons it should be near the public slaughter-houses if there are any in the town. Plenty of space should be provided in the market for the cattle to move about in, for it must be remembered that many of them which are sent to market are unused to the bustle of a town, and are wild and untractable, and have never in their lives been subjected to either penning or tethering.

The site must be easily and effectively drained, it should be somewhat isolated with respect to neighbouring buildings, the more air that can be got to sweep through it the better.

The accommodation necessary in a cattle market must vary considerably with the requirements of the district, but the following list may be given for selection:

(1.) Pens or lairs for fat beasts.

(2.) Pens or lairs for store cattle.

(3.) Pens or lairs for cows with calves.

(4.) Pens or lairs for calves.

(5.) Pens for sheep.

(6.) Pens or styes for pigs.

(7.) Covered sheds or stables for horses.

(8.) A space for showing horses off.

(9.) Sheds for agricultural implements.

(10.) Shops for the display of seeds, ropes, tarpaulins, sacks, etc.

(11.) Accommodation for auctioneers.

(12.) Lodges and offices for the superintendent or gate keeper.

(13.) A weighing machine and office.

(14.) A corn exchange (this is sometimes provided in the general market).

The entrance to a cattle market may with advantage be provided with double sets of gates, with a space between in which flocks of sheep or herds of cattle can be temporarily penned; a wicket gate in the second set of gates will enable the toll collecter to count the number of animals easily as they pass through into the market.

The paving of the market should be of granite pitches, as it is essential that it should not be slippery, or the cattle, which usually arrive in a very excited condition, will fall and injure themselves; this description of paving is also fairly impervious, and is easily cleansed.

The paving of the lairs and pens may, however, be of asphalte.

For the cattle there may be enclosures for loose bullocks as well as divisions in which the cattle are tethered; these divisions and enclosures may be constructed of brick walls about 4 feet 6 inches in height, or posts and rails of wood and iron, strongly fastened iron rings about 4 feet apart are necessary to which the beasts must be tethered.

The paving must be kept high towards the head of the beast in order to show him off to the greatest advantage.

Large painted signboards should be fixed over the entrance of each compartment, to designate to which class it belongs, in order to avoid confusion or mistake. There should be drinking troughs for all cattle, and hydrants should be fixed all about the market, so that it can be thoroughly flushed and washed down.

The sheep-pens can be constructed with iron or wood posts and rails with the whole of one side opening as a gate, they should be about 3 feet in height, and the floor should slope up from the point at which the purchaser will stand in order that the sheep at the far end of the pen may not appear diminutive.[229]

The gates of the sheep-pens should be strongly stayed, as they make most convenient seats on which the drovers and heavy farmers sit whilst they drive their bargains.

With regard to the dimensions of the pens and lairs, the following sizes are suggested as sufficient spaces for different animals, in the modern bye-laws, emanating from the Local Government Board in 1877, with respect to markets:

The pens for calves and the styes for pigs should be covered, and their floors should be about 3 feet 6 inches above the general level of the market, as animals of this description are generally brought in carts, and they could thus be easily moved out and in.

These pens and styes must of course be thoroughly well drained and ventilated.

With regard to the weighing machine, this should be of the best manufacture, and be of sufficient size to weigh a large wagon. It is better to have what is called a “self contained” iron foundation, and pit for the weighbridge rather than one of masonry. A convenient size for this weighbridge would be 15 feet in length by 12 feet in breadth.

With reference to the rest of the provisions I have enumerated, they require no special comment, but must necessarily be left to the discretion of the town surveyor and the wishes of his corporation.

Markets for general merchandise are usually handsome buildings, which are erected in the most central positions of the town; they contain:

(1.) The corn exchange (this is sometimes erected in the cattle market).

(2.) The fish market.

(3.) The dead meat market (this is sometimes erected in connection with the public slaughter-houses).

(4.) The game and poultry market.

(5.) The fruit, vegetable and flower market.

(6.) The butter, eggs and cheese market.

(7.) The miscellaneous goods market.

(8.) Public conveniences.

(9.) Offices and dwelling for the clerk of the market.

(10.) Committee room for the market committee.

The floor of the market should be on a level as much as is practicable with the adjacent streets; steps up or down are objectionable for the public, and galleries or upper floors should also be avoided unless the available area of the site is limited.

The interior of the building should be lofty, and it must be thoroughly well ventilated; the great fault with nearly all existing markets is the cutting draught to which buyers and sellers are usually subjected.

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.