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The proceedings in connection with Nos. 1 to 24, Alma Street, were taken in
consequence of the defective condition of the drain common to the houses. The drain
being a combined one, the defence was that it was a sewer, and as such was repairable
by the Sanitary Authority. The Sanitary Authority were in possession of evidence that
application had been made shortly before the year 1856, to the old Commissioners of
Sewers, for their sanction as to the construction of the combined drain in question, and
that the application had received the sanction of the old Commissioners of Sewers.
The requirement of the law on the subject is that a combined drain sanctioned or
approved by the old Commissioners of Sewers if it is to remain a drain repairable by
the owner, must have been laid or constructed before the 1st January, 1856. The
Sanitary Authority were therefore called upon to prove that the drain was constructed
in accordance with this requirement, namely before the 1st January, 1856. No such
evidence could be procured sufficient to satisfy the magistrate as to the date the combined
drain was laid, and it was therefore held to be a sewer, the summons being consequently
dismissed.
No. 33, Allerton Street, was closed as the result of a summons taken out
by the Chief Sanitary Inspector, the house being without any water supply.
The summonses respecting Nos. 5, Boot Street, 15, Rushton Street, and Nos. 3
and 5, Trafalgar Road, were withdrawn on the owner carrying out the works specified
in the notices served.
The summons against the owner of No. 44, Cotton's Garden, was taken out by the
chief sanitary inspector for failure to comply with a notice for the abatement of a
nuisance caused, amongst other things, by a defective drain common to the houses Nos
33 to 44, Cotton's Gardens. The point in dispute was as to the defective drain, it being
claimed that the same was a sewer. The Sanitary Authority were in possession of an
unsigned application for the construction of the drainage of the whole of the houses in
Cotton's Gardens, the houses to be drained by combined operation into a neighbouring
sewer, and the minutes shewing that the application was sanctioned were put in
evidence. There was, however, no plan of the combined drain attached to the application.
It was contended on behalf of the defendant that the evidence was insufficient to
shew that the existing combination of the drains of the houses in question was the one
sanctioned by the Sanitary Authority. The magistrate took a different view and held
that there was, and made the order for the abatement of the nuisance applied for.
The summons in respect to No. 34, Newton Street, was taken out by inspector
Lindon, under the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, for the abatement of a nuisance
Amongst other things, the drain was defective. As it formed portion of a combined
system the owner contended that it was a sewer, and that the Sanitary Authority were
responsible for its repair and maintenance. The drain, however, took only the drainage
from one premises, and the necessary nuisance order was made by the magistrate.
The proceedings against the London General Omnibus Company were taken in
consequence of a nuisance arising through the quantity of manure and stable litter
which had been allowed to accumulate in their yard in Pearson Street. Very bad
smells, caused through the periodic disturbances of the manure heaps had troubled the
neighbourhood of the yard for some considerable time. The Company had been