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98
of smoke escaping. It was given in evidence by one of the Inspectors of
the London County Council that there were seven generating stations
within the area inspected by him; that there had been no complaints
touching four of the seven; that the three stations complained of
belonged to the defendant Company; and that, of the three, the station
in Amberley Road was the worst. The Officers of the Vestry stated that
complaints had been made of smoke nuisance from the furnaces used by
the Guardians of Paddington and the proprietors of Fox's Bedding
Factory in Harrow Road; that notices had been served on these parties;
and that they had subsequently abated the nuisance. It was also put in
that there were other chimneys in the district of which no complaint had
been made.
Mr. Lane, at the conclusion of the case, remarked that the Vestry
ought to have called the engineers or other officers of the-stations reputed
to have caused no nuisance; that all the evidence before him went to
prove that the defendant Company had done their best to minimise the
nuisance for which they were not responsible, having regard to the coal
strike; and therefore he dismissed the summons. No order was made
as to costs.
Subsequent to the above decision complaints of black smoke were of
almost daily occurrence.
A further summons was subsequently taken out against the Company,
under the same section, the case being heard by Mr Curtis Bennett on
August 11th and 13th. The Company admitted the nuisance, but
pleaded inability to get Welsh coal and the obligation to carry out the
duties imposed by their Order. Evidence was given on behalf of the
Vestry that by suitable alterations in the boiler plant, smoke shaft, &c.,
it would be possible to use soft coal without giving rise to nuisance. Mr.
Bennett decided that there was nothing in the Company's Order
requiring them to use smokeless coal; that the Company had caused a
nuisance by their act, default, or sufferance, and that by proper alterations
the ordinary softer kinds of coal could be used without giving rise
to nuisance. He made an order for the nuisance to be abated within
nine months and gave the Vestry 20 guineas costs.
When the time (nine months) in which the Order was to be complied
with was specified, the Magistrate's attention was called by the Counsel
for the Vestry, that such order apparently gave the Company freedom
to continue the nuisance indefinitely. Mr. Bennett, however, replied
that a fresh summons could be taken if the nuisance continued without
diminution or got worse.