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89
Removal of House Refuse.—At a conference of London Sanitary Authorities, on streets
and street traffic, held last year, one of the resolutions passed was—
"That in the opinion of this conference, house refuse should be removed daily, where
practicable."
In connection with this resolution, the Public Health Committee of the County Council reported
that they had had under consideration the question, whether any alteration might, with advantage,
be made in the by-law framed by the Council in 1893, under section 16 (2) of the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, to the effect that— "The sanitary authority shall cause to be removed
not less frequently than once in every week the house refuse produced on all premises within
their district." The Committee stated the reasons which make removal at frequent intervals
necessary, and expressed the opinion that the time had arrived when an effort should be made
to secure the collection of house refuse in London more often than once a week: in Edinburgh
and some other places the system is to collect daily from every house. The Committee added
that in certain parts of London, especially in business thoroughfares, a daily collection is in
force, and they hoped that the effect of the resolution adopted at the conference would be to
extend the system of daily removal. Having regard, however, to the extent of London, and
the varying circumstances of the different districts, the Committee did not think it practicable
then to make a by-law requiring a universal daily collection, but they thought a bi-weekly
collection to be practicable, and that it should be made compulsory. They therefore proposed
that the word "twice" should be substituted for "once" in the existing by-law, and that a copy
of the proposed amended by-law should be sent to the sanitary authorities for their observations,
pursuant to section 114 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. This was done.
The specific recommendation made by the Committee was that by-law No. 7 should be
amended so as to read as follows:—
"The sanitary authority shall cause to be removed not less frequently than twice in every week
the house refuse produced on all premises within their district."
As a condition precedent to the proposed alteration in the by-law, provision should be
made for the abolition of the fixed "ash-pit," i.e., the common brick dust-bin, "furnished with
proper doors and coverings " (Public Health (London) Act, 1891, sec. 37 (1)). In the interpretation
section (141) of the Act, the expression "ash-pit" is defined to mean "any ash-pit,
dust-bin, ash-tub, or other receptacle for the deposit of ashes or refuse matter"; but the County
Council's by-law, 16, requires that any "ash-pit" newly provided shall be in the form of one
or more movable metal receptacles, with one or more suitable handles and cover. By-law 18
requires that where any sanitary authority shall have arranged for the daily removal of house
refuse in their district, or part thereof, the owner of any premises shall provide an " ash-pit,"
in the form of a movable iron receptacle. Such receptacles would have (under by-law 6) to be
deposited upon the kerbstone of the footpath, immediately in front of the house, or other conveniently
accessible position, as the sanitary authority may prescribe, by written notice, in order
to the collection therefrom of the refuse, between such hours of the day as the sanitary authority
may have fixed, and notified by public announcement in their district. Such deposit of the
" ash-pit" on the kerbstone, etc., would not be proper excepting in the case of a daily removal ;
but to facilitate even a bi-weekly removal it is imperative, with a view to avoid excessive increase
in the cost of collection, that the refuse be stored in movable receptacles, which admit of being
carried from the premises to the dust-cart. The proposal of the County Council did not meet
with a favourable reception from the Borough Councils, and at present, as far as I am aware,
no progress towards realisation of the views of their Public Health Committee has been made.
Stable Refuse.—In many former reports note has been taken of the frequency of
complaints of effluvium nuisance arising in the storage, and especially in the removal, of stable
refuse from pits underground. Thanks to the operation of the County Council's by-law, carried
out effectually in this borough, complaints in respect to private premises are now relatively few
in number; and as a principal cause for complaint the sunken dung-pit, is almost a thing of the
past, we may reasonably hope to have even less cause for annoyance on this score in the future.
The subject was fully dealt with in the annual report for 1894 (pp. 184-189), to which I would
refer anyone desirous of knowing what a serious difficulty was involved, until we were able,
generally, to abolish the brick receptacle, above or below ground, and to substitute the iron cage
now so familiar an object in the mews in this borough, not far short of two hundred in number.