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8. There must be no offensive odour.
9. No open run without a roof may be used in any yard
under 400 sq. ft., in size, and where such outside run is
provided it must be kept sweet and clean, the earth,
sand or gravel must be well drained to avoid a sloppy
condition in wet weather, and the material of the
run must be entirely renewed as often as is necessary.
(b) That any premises or place within 10 feet of any dwellinghouse
shall be deemed for the purposes 'of Section
18 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, to be a
place unfit for the keeping of poultry.
These Regulations have not the force of By-Laws
as they are merely instructions to poultry keepers and
Sanitary Inspectors and as such have been found extremely
useful and tend to lead to some uniformity in
dealing with this somewhat difficult matter, and one
has the knowledge that in any prosecution owing to
contravention of these regulations the defendant will
not be backed by the National Poultry Council. The
question of making by-laws to deal with this subject
was considered, but it was thought that such by-laws
as would be accepted by the Ministry of Health would
not be of as much use to us as these regulations of
our own. Poultry keepers are given copies of these
regulations when necessary and are told that in the
opinion of the Council any contravention of these
regulations will render them liable to prosecution
either under Sections 2 to 4 of the Public Health (London).
Act for causing a nuisance, or under Section 18
of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. This
latter section provides that " where it is proved
to the satisfaction of a petty sessional court that any
locality, premises, or place are or is unfit for the keeping
of any animal, the court may by summary order prohibit
the using thereof for that purpose for the future."
It was necessary to take one prosecution with regard
to the keeping of fowls during the year. The magistrate
made an order that the keeping of poultry on these
premises should be given up within seven days and
granted the Council one guinea costs. Since this
prosecution no further difficulty has been experienced
in dealing with such cases.