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The paving of yards is one of the matters dealt with in the Council's bye-laws, the tenth of
the series requiring, in respect of "any yard or open space, where it is necessary for the prevention
or remedy of insanitary conditions that all or part of such yard or open space shall be paved," that
it be paved forthwith, by the owner of the dwelling-house with which such yard or open space is
connected. It will be observed that the paving of yards is prescribed" for the prevention or
remedy of insanitary conditions," a fact which is often lost sight of. That paving is "necessary"
for this purpose is indubitable, and the subject is deserving of the utmost attention of sanitary
authorities, by whom, generally, I venture to think, more would be done if due weight were
attached to the hygienic importance of cleanliness and dryness in the surroundings of dwellinghouses—a
matter to which attention was specially directed in the annual report for 1897 (page
146) ; the authority of the late medical officer of the Local Government Board being cited in
support of the views therein expressed.
In connection with the foregoing subject, reference may be made to the rubbish, often the
accumulation of years, so frequently seen in the yards of houses let in tenements to the poorer
classes: such as broken bedsteads, rotten straw palliasses, and other things of no value, once the
"property," it may be, of dead or departed lodgers. In the report for 1899 it was observed, that
"it is nobody's business to remove the things, which simply serve as harbourage for collections of
filth." The yards where they exist can not be properly cleansed, and might fairly be regarded as
premises "in such a state as to be a nuisance or dangerous to health." The importance of the
matter gets lost sight of in ordinary times, but let there be a cholera-scare, and everybody
forthwith recognises the propriety and necessity of that general clearance of filth and litter which
should be effected systematically at all times.
In October, 1900, plague having broken out at Glasgow, the late Yestry, upon my
recommendation, and as a measure of precaution, appointed six temporary sanitary inspectors for
a few weeks, whose chief duty, in house-to-house inspections, was to enforce a general clean-up of
premises ; an instruction, moreover, was issued authorising the surveyor to remove from yards (with
the necessary consents) all useless articles, rubbish, &c. Some work of this kind was done; but
unremitting attention is necessary to the attainment of the object in view, to wit, the preservation
of cleanliness in the surroundings of dwelling-houses—an object of much importance from the
public health point of view—"dirt," defined by the late Lord Palmerston as " matter in the wrong
place," being a fertile source of unhealthiness, and conducive to disease.
NUISANCE FROM GAS WORKS.
Complaints, but in number fewer than usual, were received during the year, of nuisance
from the gas workg at Kensal-green—a subject dealt with in the annual report for 1894 (page 166).
There can be no doubt as to the genuineness of the complaints, which receive confirmation from
Willesden, the inhabitants of that district suffering when Kensington people have no ground for
complaint, and vice versd; the incidence of nuisance varying with change in the direction of the
wind. The matter having been referred to the law and parliamentary committee of the late Vestry,
they reported that—
"By Section 29 of the Gas Works Clauses Act, 1847, which applies to the Gas Light and Coke
Company, the company is not to be exempted from indictment for nuisance, or any
other legal proceeding to which they may be liable in consequence of making or supplying
gas; and in a case decided in 1877 it was held that a gas company was not entitled to
create a nuisance in exercising their statutory powers or in carrying out their statutory
obligations (Attorncy-Qeneral v. Gas Light and Coke Company, 7 Ch. D. 217)."
The committee therefore advised the sanitary committee that—
"If there be evidence of a substantial public nuisance caused by the Gas Light and Coke
Company, the Vestry are entitled to proceed by indictment, or for an injunction to
secure its abatement."
The Vestry accordingly addressed a communication to the company intimating that observation
would be kept up, and that on any recurrence of the nuisance proceedings would be instituted.
A reply was received to the effect that, while objectionable smells did proceed at times from the
company's works, such smells being caused by the elimination of sulphur impurities from the gas,
according to the stringent requirements of the metropolitan gas referees, every known appliance for
the prevention of nuisance was adopted. The company suggested a reference to the gas referees,
being of opinion that they would be able to satisfy the Vestry that the best possible system was
being carried out; but, in the event of improvement being suggested, the directors signified
willingness to adopt and to carry out any recommendation. The Vestry adhered to the position
taken up with regard to the legal responsibility of the company, to see that no nuisance should arise
from smells from their works, and left it to the company to appeal to the gas referees, if they