The new Islington market was opened on Monday. According to
one acconnt, the number of cattle and sheep that were sold surpassed expectation ; but a writer in the Times asserts that the affair was a miser- able failure ; and gives the following comparative statement of the business done on the same day at Islington and Smithfield—
Smithfield. Islington.
" Beasts 2,346 346 Sheeps and Lambs 15,010 2,300 Calves 94 9 Pigs 380 83
He adds-
" The greatest difficulty was experienced by the salesmen at Islington to effect even these trifling sales; a Mr. Mossman, who could not sell his cattle at that market, returned about twelve o'clock to Smithfield, and was received with three hearty cheers ; a Mr. Stimpson also, who had five beasts there and could not get a customer, finding the trade at Smithfield brisk, sent his down to that market, but he was not allowed to remove them without first submitting to have their tails cut, to make it appear they were sold. The principal salesman, who had five hundred sheep, had only sold about ten at nine o'clock, and Mr. Sayer, who had the principal portion of the beasts, at a late hour of the day had between ninety and one hundred unsold."
No doubt the new market will have to contend for a time against the hostility of prejudice, laziness, and local bias : but it will outlive these, and conquer them.
Previous page
