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mittee, referred to the Law and General Purposes Committee, with the result that proceedings were
initiated for obtaining an injunction under sub-section (3). Negotiations were thereupon entered
into with the proprietors which terminated in a satisfactory arrangement for discontinuance of the
use of the premises for the purposes of the business before the end of the current year. The
proceedings were thereupon stayed.
Fried Fish Shop Business.—In connection with proposed amendments to the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, elsewhere referred to (page 90), 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." In many of these reports, it has been urged that the business should be added
to the list, not with any intention of unduly interfering with, but rather with the object
of regulating, the conduct of it, so as to prevent nuisance. It may be mentioned that the
Conference of Delegates of the Borough Councils, held in July, 1904, 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as "offensive" in the (now repealed) Slaughter-houses (Metropolis) Act, 1874.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 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, to the number of 17, are kept
under observation. The Conference of Delegates of the Borough Councils held in July, 1904,
unanimously 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 by the Conference to make "Orders" to carry out the foregoing
resolutions with respect to Fried Fish Shops and Marine Stores. The Public Health Committee
dealt with the subject in their report on legislative proposals for the Session of 1907, in which
they said—
"There can be no doubt as to the desirableness of regulating the conditions under which the
trades in question are pursued," and that " this could best be done if the Council were empowered
to make, for the conduct of the businesses, by-laws to be enforced by the borough councils.
Such by-laws (they added) would in the case of fried fish shops and fish curers' premises, deal with
such matters as the prevention of nuisance arising from the escape of vapour, and conditions
which may involve risk of contamination of the fish; and in the case of marine stores the proper
cleansing and ventilation of such stores, and the storage under proper conditions of perishable
and offensive articles."
The recommendation the Committee submitted to the Council, was that application be made
to Parliament for authority—
"Enabling the Council to make by-laws, to be enforced by sanitary authorities, with regard to
the proper regulation of the businesses of a seller of fried fish, fish-curer, and marine store
dealer."
The simpler and better course would be to add the businesses to the list of offensive trades,
as recommended by the Conference.
SEWER SMELLS.
With the return of summer the usual shower of complaints began of noxious emanations
from sewer ventilators and untrapped street gullies, a subject dealt with, more or less ineffectually,
in many of these reports extending over very many years. Owing to the long continued
prevalence of hot weather, and absence of rain, the complaints were more numerous than in
summers of ordinary climatic conditions, and they came from many parts of the borough. A
few specimens of those received by me (irrespective of those sent direct to the Borough Engineer)
may be cited—