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46
Full particulars of the number and description of the nuisances dealt with
will be found in Tables XXIV and XXV.
On June 10th a man, who was employed on a sailing barge, went on board
another barge lying alongside and entered the fore cabin. As he did not
return, search was made and the man was found to be dead. The barge was
loaded with an offensive cargo, gases from which had entered the fore cabin,
and the man was suffocated.
An inquest was held, and a verdict was returned as " death by misadventure."
I instructed one of your Sanitary Inspectors to attend the
inquest and to give any information which the Coroner desired, with a view
to assisting the jury in their inquiry. He gave particulars as to the action
taken by this Authority in protecting the inmates of sailing barges on which
persons lived, from the effects of these gases, when they were loaded with
offensive cargoes, but he pointed out that, in the case of the barge in question,
the barge was not inhabited, and the Authority had no power to deal with the
question. The Coroner expressed his thanks for the assistance rendered by
the Inspector.
In August, I received a complaint with regard to a nuisance caused by the
presence of large quantities of flies at the Branch Seamen's Hospital,
Connaught Road, Royal Albert Dock.
The plague was at its worst about the 19th, a fly-paper collecting over
100 flies in fifteen minutes.
Fresh paint in the Hospital was covered with the legs of flies which had
stuck to it when fresh, so that there was no question as to the fact of the
existence of the nuisance.
Situated to the North-East of the Hospital is the West Ham rubbish-shoot,
which receives about 40 van loads of house and other refuse daily.
Inspector Spadaccini visited the locality, and reported that in all parts of
the dust heap there were myriads of flies, and it appeared that the flies
predominated in premises near the dust-shoot.
At the time when the nuisance was at its worst, the wind had been blowing
from the North and North-East for several days,
I have no doubt that this rubbish-shoot is responsible, if not for the
breeding of the flies, certainly for the collection.
The shoot is not within the jurisdiction of the Port Sanitary Authority,
and I recommended the Secretary of the Seamen's Hospital to write to the
Corporation of West Ham on the subject, and I drew the attention of the
Medical Officer of Health to the facts.
The prevailing wind is South-West, and it is only when the wind blows
from the North and North-East that the Hospital is likely to be infested with
flies from this source.