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Bunhill Row, for the last fourteen years, but neither he nor any of
his family have ever had anthrax. The patient was admitted to St.
Bartholomew's Hospital.
Trade Nuisances.—Five cases occurred during the year in
which complaint was received of nuisance or annoyance arising
from the manner in which certain businesses were conducted. Section
23 (2c) of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, provides that
no person shall carry on "any trade or business which occasions
any noxious or offensive effluvia or otherwise annoys the neighbourhood
or inhabitants, without using the best practicable means for
preventing or counteracting such effluvia or other annoyance."
The first case was one in which a ventilating fan discharged air
laden with offensive fumes from a gas-producer plant situate in a
basement occupied as a paper goods factory. In the second case,
complaint was made of fumes arising in the process of mixing ingredients
for electrical insulator making; the lower part of the
premises being a factory and the upper part occupied as tenements.
In both these cases improvements in the means of ventilation removed
the cause of complaint. The third case was one in which
a fan, used to exhaust the air from a basement in which gorgonzola
cheese was stored, was fitted about 6ft. above pavement level, near
the entrance of a narrow courtway. Complaint was made by
neighbouring occupiers of the offensive smell, and the fan, was removed.
In the fourth case, the exhaust outlet of a large gas engine
was affixed to a factory wall in the rear of dwelling houses. The
extension of the exhaust pipe obviated the nuisance caused by the
noise and fumes. Lastly, complaint was made of a nuisance arising
from petrol engines, which, while stationary and in a confined
space, were run at high speed, producing offensive fumes from the
burnt petrol end lubricant. The practice was discontinued.
Such difficulties as these are almost bound to arise in a district
such as Finsbury, in the transition stage between use for commercial
and industrial purposes as distinct from residential. In
no case dealt with during the year has it been necessary to have
recourse to legal proceedings, as the persons responsible have been
willing to take steps to remedy the nuisances when representations
have been made to them by us.