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object. In previous reports I have intimated that a solution of
the difficulty of the sanitary disposal of house refuse would be
found in cremation, which could, under proper conditions, be
carried out successfully and innocuously. This view is supported
by the Medical Officer of Health and the Engineer to
the London County Council, who, having made a thorough
inquiry into the subject of dust destructors, in accordance with
an instruction of the Public Health and Housing Committee,
came to the conclusion that the cremation of house refuse may
be effected, in a properly constructed apparatus, without
creating any nuisance. The report of these officers having
been forwarded by the Council to your Vestry, and referred to
the Wharves and Plant Committee, I reported thereon, at the
request of the Committee, dealing with the subject, of course,
from the sanitary point of view. I stated that I agreed with
the conclusion arrived at by the Medical Officer of Health and
the Engineer; that " the process (of cremation) would appear to
offer, in existing circumstances, the most effectual and economical,
and the only sanitary method of dealing with the refuse
of the parish, inasmuch as, at the minimum of cost, the
offensive constituents of the domestic receptacle called a dustbin,
can be reduced in bulk by some three-fourths, the
residuum, moreover, being not only innocuous, but, where the
demand for such material prevails, also of some value." I
concluded by commending the report to the favourable consideration
of the Committee, " believing that the erection and
utilisation of dust destructors in this parish would be a distinct
advantage from the public health point of view."