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As mentioned in this report we have had several trial
cases at the police court, and the magistrate so far has taken
the view that the burning of ballast is a nuisance that can be
dealt with under the Public Health (London) Act. It consequently
appears clear that it is the duty of the Sanitary
Authority to deal with these nuisances, and it is certainly my
opinion that if they fail in this respect the London County
Council would, in the case of complaint being made to them,
take action in default of the Vestry. Under the Public Health
Act, however, the procedure in a great measure renders futile
all proceedings for the immediate cessation of the nuisance;
the Committee is the only body empowered to order the service
of a notice, or in default, a summons, and it is not unlikely that
13 or more days might elapse between the beginning of the
nuisance and the meeting of the Committee, during which
time the fire would burn itself out, and the nuisance be thus
abated. No penalties as a rule are inflicted in cases like this,
as the magistrate seems loth to mulct the defendants if there is
no nuisance at the time of the hearing of the summons.
The question of the insanitary areas existing in the
Parish has been prominently before your Committee, and
particularly that district lying between Camberwell Road and
the Parish boundary and limited on the north and south by
Avenue Road and Wyndham Road respectively. From the
result of the house-to-house inspection that I have made of the
greater part of Hollington Street, Beckett Street and Sultan
Street I am inclined to think that the defects, speaking broadly,
are those of construction rather than position and should be
dealt with under either Part 2 of the Housing of Working
Classes Act, or the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. As,
however, the subject is still occupying the attention of your
Committee I shall reserve my remarks until their recommendations
have been before the Vestry. At the same time I should
like to call attention to the large amount of good work that has
been done in the way of registering these houses under the
By-laws, which contain stringent regulations as regards
cleansing, whitewashing, overcrowding, &c., and the advantage
of registration is that these defects can be dealt with not as
nuisances but as breaches of the By-laws. I am glad to be
able to state that there are now about 150 houses on this register