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91
the Borough Engineer, in a report dealing with the utilisation of the Council's land at the
Wood-lane depot, adjoining the West London Railway at Shepherd's-bush, stated that—
"Great and increasing difficulty is experienced in getting stable manure regularly
removed. On the one hand, sanitary officials are pressing and prosecuting for more frequent
removal, and on the other hand the occupiers of stables have the greatest difficulty in getting
market gardeners and others to send for the manure. Take the Council's case, relative to
their own stud of (about) 125 horses: a few years ago market gardeners were contracting to
clear the manure regularly twice a week and pay £100 per annum for it: now it costs the
Council a small sum per annum to get rid of the said manure, with a good deal of attendant
bother to ensure regularity of removal. Stable manure should, in my opinion, be regularly
collected by the Council, and should become their property, in the same way as the statutes
deal with house refuse, and steps should be taken to get the law amended accordingly.
"I am of opinion (he adds) that under skilful and energetic management, the manurial
refuse collection and disposal could be made to yield considerable profit to the Borough, with
good results iu the country districts absorbing the refuse."
It was gratifying that an officer of such wide practical experience as the Borough Engineer
should thus have corroborated the views expressed in these reports during the last quarter of a
century, and I hoped that our common, but independent, advice would have prevailed with the
Council.
The report of the Special Committee dealing with the Wood-lane utilisation question was
to the following effect—
" In the report of the Borough Engineer of the 23rd September, 1901, allusion is made to the
increasing difficulty experienced by the owners of horses in getting stable manure regularly
. removed, and a suggestion is put forward that such manure should be collected and disposed
of by the Council in a similar manner to that adopted in regard to house refuse.
"Under section 36 (1) of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, the Council are empowered to
remove manure from any stables and cow-houses within their district, the occupiers of which
signify their consent in writing to such removal, and the Borough Engineer suggests that
this law.should be amended so that all stable manure shall become the property of the local
authority of the district, and be collected by them accordingly.
"With the merits of this question we do not propose to deal, but we consider that as it will be
necessary for railway sidings to be constructed in connection with the general development
of the land, it is expedient that provision should be made for the necessary sidings which
would allow of the Council, should they think fit at any time in the future to do so, to
undertake the removal of manure from the stables in the Borough.
"We therefore recommend—
"' That in the plans to be prepared for the utilisation of the depfit, railway sidings be
included at an estimated cost of £2,500.' "
The report was adopted by the Council.
The Borough Engineer in his report proclaimed the need of legislation to place stable
refuse in the same category as house refuse, both as regards the obligation to remove it, and as
to property rights in the collected matter. It may be useful, therefore, to recall the fact that
the subject, in these aspects, received special consideration in the annual reports for 1897 (p. 156),
and 1898 (p. 142). Having regard to the practical uselessness of the enactment in the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, section 36 (2), the Public Health Committee of the County Council
in 1897 had caused a communication to be addressed to the Metropolitan Medical Officers of Health,
in which it was stated that they "from time to time, received complaints of nuisance arising
from accumulations of manure at various premises in London." Reference was made to the provisions
of section 36; but, finding that the sanitary authority had no power to charge, they were
considering whether, with a view to facilitating removal, it was desirable to seek an amendment
of the section, so as to give the said authority power to charge for the service, when required
by the owner or the occupier of any premises to remove it; similar to that which they now have
under section 33 in respect of trade refuse. The enquiry addressed to me was, whether I was in
favour of such a proposed amendment of the law? In replying, I stated that, in reports during
many years, I had advocated the view that not only should the sanitary authority have power to
remove accumulations of manure, but also that, in the interests of public health, it should be
made their statutory duty to do so, and that they should be authorised to charge the owner of the
refuse a reasonable sum for the service.
As an outcome of the enquiry by the Committee, and on their recommendation, the
Council, on 29th March, 1898, instructed the Parliamentary Committee to take the necessary
steps to "obtain such an amendment of the law as would give the sanitary authorities power
to charge for the removal of manure when required by the owner or occupier of any premises
to remove it." The Parliamentary Committee reported (3rd November, 1898) that the instructions
of the Council to take the necessary steps to obtain such an amendment of the law would
involve an amendment of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, and this would necessitate the
introduction of a separate public Bill: it therefore occurred to them that there were probably