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counter, and mainly for the convenience of customers; but also in self-defence, lest customers
should be induced to transfer their general dealings to other shops where this necessary article of
diet can be obtained. The containing vessels at these little shops are kept clean; but the air of
the premises is far from "pure;" the commonly prevailing odour being that of mineral oil, or of
some one or other of the miscellaneous articles of food, cooked or uncooked, vended thereat. I
should be glad to see a better state of things; but the Local Authority appear to have no power
to refuse registration to would-be vendors of milk.
Fried-Fish Shop Business.—In connection with proposed amendments to the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, elsewhere referred to (page 75), the Sanitary Committee of the late
Vestry expressed the opinion that the business of a fried-fish seller should be added to the list of
those specified in section 19, in order to the regulation of the conduct of the business, and so as
to prevent it from being an annoyance to adjoining occupiers. . This business gives rise to nuisance
when carried on negligently, without necessary precautions to prevent the escape of effluvia, and it
is a not infrequent subject of complaint; decided cases, moreover, class it as an " offensive business."
The several premises are kept under observation.
The Conference of Delegates of the Borough Councils held in July last (vide page 75),
adopted a resolution (No. 36) with regard' to fried-fish shops as follows:—"That the business of a
fried-fish shopkeeper should be added to the list of offensive businesses specified in Section 19 of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891."
Marine Stores.—The business of a marine store dealer is not scheduled in the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, as an "offensive business," though it gives rise to offensive smells, and
has been held by the Court of Appeal to be ejusdem generis with the businesses originally scheduled
as "offensive" in the (now repealed) Slaughter-houses (Metropolis) Act, 1874. Acting upon my
advice, the late Vestry made application to the late Metropolitan Board of Works, in 1883, to
schedule the business under that Act, but without success. And in 1896, upon receipt of complaints
of nuisance arising in the conduct of the business, a similar application was made to the County
Council under the provisions of section 19 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. This application,
likewise, was unsuccessful. The subject was dealt with fully in the annual report for
1896—pages 119-123. The premises where the business is carried on are kept under observation.
The Conference of Delegates of the Borough Councils held in July last (vide page 75),
adopted a resolution (No. 35) with regard to marine stores as follows:—" That the business of a
marine store dealer should be added to the list of offensive businesses specified in Section 19 of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891."
The County Council were requested to make Orders to carry out the resolntions, 35 and 36.
REFUSE.
House Refuse.—The work of collection of ashes and miscellaneous rubbish from the 23,000
inhabited houses, has been systematised by division of the borough into districts, and provision
has been made for inspection of ash-pits, and oversigxit of the dusting gangs, the arrangements
being under the supervision of the Borough Engineer, subject to the control of the Works Committee.
A call is made at every house once a week, and further improvement is scarcely possible
until the objectionable practice of refuse-harbourage shall have given place to the more rational
system of daily collection from movable receptacles. The arrangements for domestic storage at
"flats" are usually unsatisfactory, the receptacles being placed in unsuitable positions: complaints
are common. In some instances, the Works Committee have made arrangements for clearing the
receptacles more often than once a week. Nuisance from house refuse does not arise from ashes,
the proper contents of the receptacle, but from the addition thereto of matters of organic origin.
An interesting question arose last year with respect to the storage of house refuse at stables
in a mews. The rooms were let independently of the stables: there was no suitable place for
standing dust-bins, and the occupiers of the stables refused to allow the refuse to be deposited
in the manure cages. The Public Health Committee, having viewed the mews, solved the difficulty
by erecting a public receptacle for the common use of the inhabitants.