London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Kensington 1903

Report of the Medical Officer of Health for the four weeks, March 1st to March 28th, 1903...

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45
is removed shall pay to the sanitary authority a reasonable sum, either
by way of annual payment or in respect of each such removal, and such
sum in case of dispute shall be settled by the order of a petty sessional
court.
With reference to this important question: I beg to submit that
it is desirable that the sanitary authority should have power, and be
required, to remove offensive trade and other refuse, as recommended
by the Conference in 1900; and that the suggested clauses are
suitable for giving effect by legislation to the resolutions of the
said Conference.
Personally, I regard the matter of the removal of stable manure
by the sanitary authority as being " one of great urgency," and, as
it could be dealt with in any Bill enabling sanitary authorities
to remove other forms of offensive refuse, I recommend that the
County Council be requested to draft a clause or clauses dealing
therewith.
The subject generally is one in which the Kensington Sanitary
Authority have lone- taken an interest. It was dealt with in my
report (July 24th, 1878) on "Filth Removal," the refuse therein
particularly adverted to being that from cow-houses; complaints
having been received with regard to the conveyance of this offensive
matter through the streets in the daytime.
In the annual report for 1880 (page 114), I drew the late
Vestry's attention to the "difficulty experienced in preventing
nuisance from accumulations of offensive matters coming under the
general description, Refuse"—a difficulty "common to all parts of
the Metropolis, and calling for legislative interference for its
abatement."
I brought the subject, the same year, to the attention of the
Society of Medical Officers of Health, and a special committee, over
which I presided, was appointed to consider and report —" on the
best and most convenient ways of dealing with animal and vegetable
trade refuse, e.g., from slaughter-houses, fishmongers', poulterers',
and greengrocers' shops, etc., and with the refuse of stables and cowhouses,
with a view to its collection, removal, and ultimate disposal,
whether by utilisation or destruction."
The report of this committee, unanimously adopted by the
Society, was printed in my annual report for 1880 (page 114). The
conclusion arrived at with respect to trade refuse, such as that of
" slaughter-houses, and the refuse of the trades of fishmonger,
poulterer, greengrocer, etc."—being of organic origin and liable to
decomposition—was that " the nuisance authority should have power
and obligation to collect, remove, and dispose" of it, and " should
receive reasonable compensation for so doing."
With respect to stable and cowshed refuse, the Society advised