London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1905
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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7
A third course which might be adopted would be to apply for power to make by-laws
regulating the conduct of the business, such by-laws to include clauses directed towards
preventing nuisance arising from the escape of vapour, and also clauses dealing with conditions
which may involve risk of contamination of the fish.
It seems to me, on the whole, that the third course would be the most satisfactory to adopt.
Summary of inquiries made by the Council's Inspectors in 1905-6:—
| Total number of premises inspected | 1057 |
| Number of frying places in basements | 9 |
| Number of cleansing places in basements | 118 |
| Number of cleansing places in open back yards or temporary structures therein | 848 |
| Number of instances in which fish was bought at Billingsgate | 849 |
| Number of instances in which fish was bought from the Coast | 127 |
| Number of instances in which fish was bought from the Coast and Billingsgate | 81 |
| Number of instances in which cotton seed oil was used | 629 |
| Number of instances in which dripping was used | 404 |
| Number of instances in which dripping and cotton seed oil were used | 31 |
| Number of instances in which the furnaces were constructed of iron | 218 |
| Number of instances in which the furnaces were constructed of brick | 827 |
| Number of instances in which gas heated furnaces were used | 23 |
| Out of 814 cases there were 655 instances of fixed pans, and 155 instances of movable pans. | |
| Number of instances in which the hoods were obviously insufficiently ventilated | 782 |
| Number of instances in which walls, &c., were deficient in impervious surfaces | 731 |
| Number of instances in which the paving of the frying place was defective | 19 |
| Number of instances in which the paving of the cleansing place was defective | 99 |
| Number of instances in which the paving of the yard was defective | 127 |
| Number of instances in which the water supply was inadequate | 1 |
| Number of instances in which the offal was stored so as to cause nuisance, or stored in improper receptacles | 703 |
| Number of instances in which the offal was said to be collected daily by a contractor | 751 |
| Number of instances in which the offal was said to be collected daily by dustmen or scavengers | 66 |
| Number of instances in which the offal was said to be collected less frequently by a contractor | 141 |
| Number of instances in which the offal is disposed of so as to be a probable source of nuisance | 18 |
| Number of instances in which dirty conditions generally were found | 327 |
The price of oil varied from 15s. to 22s. per cwt.
The price of dripping varied from 25s. to 32s. per cwt.
The actual time fish was said to be fried varied from 1 minute to 25 minutes. As
a rule, the time in question was from 3 to 10 minutes.