View report page

64
OFFENSIVE TRADES.
In June last, in reply to an enquiry from the Corporation of Glasgow, it was
referred to me to report as to the powers of the Corporation for controlling
offensive trades and businesses in the City, when I reported to the effect that
statutory powers for this purpose are derived by the Corporation from the City
of London Sewers Acts, 1848,1851 and 1897, and the Public Health (London)
Act, 1891. It must be noted, however, that in the application of Section 19 of
the latter Act to the City of London, the Corporation should be substituted
for the London County Council (vide Sub-section 10, Section 19).
No. 13, MANSELL STREET-RECOMMENDATION OF
CORONER'S JURY.
Early in August last some sensational accounts appeared in the newspapers
of the insanitary condition of a tenement house at No. 13, Mansell Street,
Aldgate, occupied by a woman who died in the City Infirmary. At the
inquest one of the witnesses gave evidence which induced the jury " to request
"the Coroner to write to the City Sanitary Authorities, and call their attention
"to the matter." In due course a letter was addressed to the Town Clerk by
the Coroner for East London, in which he stated that the jury desired him to
communicate their opinion that the City Sanitary Authorities should request
their Inspectors to visit and examine the premises. The following were the
facts of the case:—
The house in question was a tenement house situated at No. 13, Mansell
Street, Aldgate, the owners of which were most respectable people, with whom
we have never had any trouble. The usual annual cleansing of the premises
throughout was carried out satisfactorily in the Spring of the year, and at
the time of the Coroner's letter the house was reported to be in a fair sanitary
condition. The room occupied by the deceased was found after her death to be
in a dirty and neglected state, owing to the habits of the occupants. As a
matter of fact the deceased had been in receipt of a weekly wage from the
owners for keeping the house in decent order. The evidence given by two of
the witnesses was grossly exaggerated, and it is interesting to note in this
connection that at the time of the inquest one of them had paid no rent for
three months, was under notice to quit, and a distraint about to be levied on
her goods.
This house, together with Nos. 5 to 19, in the same street was scheduled
for demolition in connection with the proposed Tower Bridge Approach
improvement. These facts were at once communicated to the Town Clerk for
transmission to the Coroner.