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55
that the Vestry had addressed a communication to the Court of
Common Council urging them, as the port sanitary authority, to
cause effective proceedings to be taken without delay to suppress the
smoke nuisance arising from Thames steamboats; the Committee
recommended that a similar communication be made by the
Board.
At a meeting of the Sanitary Committee, held 27th January, the
Committee recommended the Board to agree to the suggestion of the
Vestry of the parish of St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster, that
access should be afforded to the officers of the Local Sanitary
Authorities to barracks, post offices, military hospitals, factories, and
other Government institutions, as well in reference to cases of dangerous
infectious disease as to water supply, drainage, w.c. accommodation
and sanitary conditions generally, with the object of obtaining a
systematic co-operation between the Departments having control of
the Government buildings and the Sanitary Authorities.
In the reply received from the First Commissioner of Her Majesty's
Works it was stated, "They cannot, however, abandon the right of
exemption claimed by the Government to control absolutely the
buildings in charge of the Government." The letter went on to state
that Her Majesty's Office of Works would be glad to be informed
of any specific cases where insanitary conditions are said to
prevail.
There was a nuisance complained of in the neighbourhood of the
Bromley Gas Works with respect to the mechanical coal grabber.
The premises were visited and the apparatus inspected, and the
manager gave his assurance that the "grabber" should be so worked
as to prevent a recurrence of the nuisance—viz., coal dust being
scattered in all directions.