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1903]
208
were closed which did not comply with the requirements of the Public Health
Act. Nevertheless it became necessary to cause the owners of houses to
prevent 25 rooms from being used for sleeping purposes, and to close 40 rooms
as dwellings, which had been illegally used.
Nuisances from Sewers.—Complaints of nuisances from the street
ventilators of sewers were very few; a fact which is explained by the continued
heavy rainfalls that were experienced in the summer months. Whenever
complaints are received they are at once referred to your Borough Engineer,
who then causes the sewers to be well flushed.
The heavy rainfalls have had, however, the effect of causing the County
Council relief sewer to be so surcharged at times that the water has backed
into the Borough sewers, whence it has overflowed through the drains into a
great many houses in the northern part of the Borough, with the result that
a very great nuisance was caused by the inflow of sewage matter into houses in
Fairbridge Road.
The aggravation of this matter is that the London County Council has
long known that this particular relief sewer was not able to carry off the large
quantity of water that was discharged, and neglected to take timely precautions.
Stable Manure.—The removal of stable manure was in the earlier
months of 1903 effected satisfactorily, but as the year advanced, and particularly
during the summer months, the work was not performed in such a manner
as to meet with approval. Indeed, the opposite was the case; for the
contractors who depend almost entirely on the farmers for its disposal were
unable to receive it owing to the flooded condition of the land, due to the
continuous rains that prevailed. The result was that accumulations, which,
hitherto, have not been usual, occurred. It is difficult to blame any person in
particular, because the horsekeeper is in the hands of the contractor, the
contractor is in the hands of the farmers, and the farmers are in the hands of
the weather. Everywhere in the home counties the farms were under water,
so that by no possibility could manure be moved on to the land, and, therefore, it
accumulated in the borough. A large contractor collected a large quantity
which he deposited on the Great Eastern Railway manure siding near Ashburton
Grove, but as it became a nuisance he was served with a notice and had to
remove it. Fortunately, however, for him the cessation of rain just at that
time enabled many of the farmers to receive the manure.