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and caused effluvia which was a nuisance. The summonses came
before Mr. d'Eyncourt at Greenwich Police Court, on the 2nd
July, 1901, and from the evidence given by your Council's
witnesses, the Magistrate came to the conclusion that a nuisance
had been proved and he adjourned the case until the 13th July,
to enable the Company to call evidence in answer to the complaint,
it being necessary in pursuance of Section 21 of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, for the person causing the nuisance
to satisfy the Magistrate that the best practical means have been
used for preventing or counteracting the effluvia causing the
nuisance. At the adjourned hearing Mr. A. H. Stevenson, the
Council's expert, gave evidence that in his opinion the nuisance
was caused entirely by the insufficiency of area of the purifying
boxes.
After hearing expert evidence on both sides the magistrate
adjourned the summonses sine die, in order that the experts
might confer. He also expressed his opinion that the Company
should adopt Mr. Stevenson's suggestion, and increase the
number of purifiers. The Company agreed that in the event of
the experts agreeing as to the necessary work to be carried out
to abate the nuisance, they, the Company, would carry out that
work, and in the event of the experts failing to agree, the
summonses should go back to the Magistrate to give his decision,
but in any event, the matter should be mentioned to the
Magistrate at a later date, with a view of costs being awarded to
your Council.
Mr. A. H. Stevenson conferred with the Company's
Engineer, and submitted the following report to your Council on
25th October, 1901 :—
"I have to-day had an interview with Mr. Livesay, the Chairman of the
Crystal Palace Gas Company; Mr. Jones, who, you remember, was their Expert
Engineer at the Police Court Enquiry, and Mr. Shoubridge, Resident Engineer.
After some conversation, Mr. Livesay informed me that the Company
had ceased to make carburetted water gas, that is putting the oil into water gas