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146
Council not having seen their way to undertake the beneficent
task proposed to them. Your Vestry have, at present, no
power to put Part III. of the Act into operation; it only
remains, therefore—if anything is to be attempted—that steps
should be taken to promote legislation, to make the Sanitary
Authority the Local Authority, sole or concurrent,
under this Part. It was a legislative mistake to endue the
Council with exclusive power, and the sooner the mistake is
rectified the better. It is a strange anomaly that the Sanitary
Authorities of the Metropolis should be denied powers enjoyed
by the most insignificant Urban Sanitary Authority.
THE PAVING OF YARDS.
During the year a good many yards were paved more or
less satisfactorily. It would be well if work of this sort could
be carried out systematically throughout the parish; but in
present circumstances it is impracticable. Individual cases
only can be dealt with as they arise out of casual or special
inspections, or in the case of house-to-house inspections, of
which by far too few are made.
The Special Committee on "Notting-dale," in their report
(June 18th, 1896), referring to the state of the yards in the
Special Area, stated that they were "saturated with human
ordure and filth of every description." In a draft report
setting out the results of the inspections made of the district,
it was stated that the Committee were—
"Struck with the bad state of the yards at the backs of
the houses-; 'gardens' there appeared to be practically
none. The yards, excepting as to a small
portion close to the house, are unpaved and undrained.
They were littered, in a neglected condition
generally, and in many instances filthy with
deposited matters of an objectionable character, including
ordure, human and animal. Any filth once
deposited, must either soak into the ground, whence
it will return in hot weather laden with germs, or,
becoming dried, will pass as dust from the surface
into the atmosphere."