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has been stripped, are stored usually in uncovered receptacles awaiting
the periodical call of the collecting vehicle. The vehicles themselves are
offensive, and as they load up they become every hour more objectionable
to smell and sight, as they make their fetid progress through the streets.
" Kitchen Stuff. —Under this head I include waste fat, bones, hare
and rabbit skins, &c., all of which find their way to ' Marine Stores.'
Skins are generally removed before they become very offensive, but even
in regard to these there is by no means freedom from complaint. Bones
and fat are generally offensive in warm weather, being often allowed to
accumulate in considerable quantities, pending the periodica] call of the
collecting vehicle. These matters are stored in open wooden tubs, which
are emptied direct into the vehicle, or into receptacles, all of which are
usually offensive, empty or full. Bones go to bone boilers, fat to
the fat melters and soap boilers, and naturally the collectors do not
call without hope of receiving an adequate quantity, making it worth
their while. Hones are conveyed out of the parish, and a good deal of
fat probably, but within the boundaries there are two melting establishments,
which demonstrate the difficulty —even under good bye-laws
fairly carried out—of preventing nuisance in the conduct of a naturally
'offensive' business.
"Other Offensive Substances. —Greengrocers' refuse is not seldom
the cause of complaint, arising largely out of the difficulty of getting it
removed—such refuse, moreover, being naturally most abundant in
summer, when it more speedily decomposes. It is often put into dungpits,
where, under the influence of heat, it ferments, and soon becomes
offensive, adding considerably to the nuisance arising in the removal of
stable manure.
" Cowshed Refute. —The dung from cowsheds, to which sometimes
sour grains are added, is a cause of complaint, being removed in filthy
vehicles, which are often leaky, and allow of dropping in the streets.
Under the operation of the Board's Regulations for Cowsheds, the refuse
is removed with greater frequency than formerly, but cow-dung in its
passage through the streets is almost always objectionable.
" Stable Manure is frequently allowed to remain too long in the
receptacles, and when these are underground covered pits, the nuisance
in removal —ill the time of collection, and in the progress of the vehicles
through the streets—is very great, and is a frequent cause of complaint.
The nuisance varies widely in different localities, according to the use
made of straw as litter. In gentlemen's stables, the straw is changed
frequently, and when the used litter is stored in iron cages, on a paved
and drained surface, there is practically no nuisance in storage or
removal. Hut people less favourably circumstanced use the litter day
after day until it becomes fairly rotten before being deposited in the
'dung-pit' ; and then, naturally, the nuisance is great —in the pit itself,
in the act of collection, ami in conveyance through the streets : greatest
also in hot weather (when, moreover, it is difficult often to get it
removed), and in proportion to the time of detention. Of late years peat
moss has come into use as litter (sawdust, also, to some extent ). and in
the act of collection, this is extremely offensive from disengagement
of ammonia There is, however, little nuisance while the moss is
undisturbed, or in conveyance through the streets.
"Much of the nuisance (as already intimated) in regard to offensive
substances of animal origin, occurs at the time of collection and in conveyance
through the streets, with which, so far as I know, we have no