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166
There has been a marked improvement in respect of the
attention paid to your Vestry's notices since the Public
Health Act of 1891, came into operation. In my last
report, for 1892-93 (pp. 128-133), I described under the heading
" Sanitary Works and Legal Procedure" the system
introduced for giving effect to the provisions, and executing
the powers conferred by the Act, and I particularly referred to
the diminished frequency with which we had had to invoke
the aid of the magistrate—only 36 summonses having been
issued in 1892-93 compared with 122 in 1891-92—as a result of
the adoption of the plan of sending a courtesy notice to
persons in default, calling attention to the serious penalties
imposed by the Act and urging, with a view to avoidance of
further proceedings, immediate compliance with the requirements
of your Vestry. The same success has attended a
continuance of the practice in the past year, over 300 of
these so-called "final " notices having been sent out, with the
result that it became necessary in 35 cases only to have
recourse to the police court.
Legal Proceedings.—Amjng the cases in which
recourse was had to legal proceedings, the following may be
cited as of interest:—
Removal of Fish Offal.—The offence in this case
was the removal of fish offal in an improper receptacle, viz.:
the bed of a cart, contrary to the requirement of the bye-law,
made by the County Council under the provisions of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891, which deals with the
" removal or carriage ... of any . . . offensive or noxious
matter or liquid in or through L mdon," and requires " that
the carriage or vessel used therefor shall be properly
constructed, and covered, so as to prevent the escape of any
such matter or liquid, and to prevent any nuisance arising
therefrom." A conviction was obtained, a fine of ten shillings
and costs being imposed.