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95
fried Fish Shop Business.—In connection with proposed amendments to the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, elsewhere referred to (page 89), 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; i.e., 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, 1904 (vide page 89),
adopted a resolution (No. 36) to the effect, " 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as "offensive" in the (now repealed) Slaughter-houses (Metropolis) Act, 1874.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 withoutsuccess; 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, to the number of 17, are kept
under observation.
The Conference of Delegates of the Borough Councils held in July, 1904 (vide page 89),
adopted a resolution (No. 35) to the effect " 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 resolutions, 35 and 36,
but have not done so.
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 oversight 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 practicable
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,
which should be burned.
In the annual report for 1903, reference was made to the views on this subject of a
Conference of delegates of the Metropolitan Borough Councils, held in 1900, by which a resolution
was adopted that " house refuse should be removed daily when practicable." The Public Health
Committee of the County Council subsequently stated the reasons which, in their judgment, made
removal at frequent intervals necessary. They did not think it practicable to make a by-law requiring
a universal daily collection, but thought a bi-weekly removal should be made compulsory. A
by-law to this effect was drafted and submitted to the several Borough Councils for their observations,
pursuant to Section 114 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891; but the proposal did not
meet with a favourable reception, and no further action was taken in the matter. The subject was
dealt with again at the Conference of Delegates of the Borough Councils held at the County Hall in
July, 1904—to which reference has already been made (vide page 89), the following resolutions being
adopted, viz.:—(a) That the daily removal of house refuse in suitable districts is advisable. (b) That