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mittee, referred to the Law and General Purposes Committee, with the result that proceedings were
initiated for obtaining an injunction under sub-section (3). Negotiations were thereupon entered
into with the proprietors which terminated in a satisfactory arrangement for discontinuance of the
use of the premises for melting purposes before the end of 1907. The proceedings were thereupon
stayed. Subsequently an extension of time was sanctioned by the Court, with the consent
of the Council, which will have expired before publication of this report.
fried Fish Shop Business.—In connection with proposed amendments to the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, elsewhere referred to (page 84), the Sanitary Committee of the late
Vestry expressed the opinion that the business of a fried fish seller should be added to the list of
those specified in Section 19, in order to the regulation of the conduct of the business, and so as
to prevent it from being an annoyance to adjoining occupiers. This business gives rise to nuisance
when carried on without precautions to prevent the escape of effluvia, and it is a not infrequent
subject of complaint: decided cases, moreover, class it as an "offensive business." In many of
these reports, it has been urged that the business should be added to the list, not with any
intention of unduly interfering with, but rather with the object of regulating, the conduct
of it, so as to prevent nuisance. It may be mentioned that a Conference of Delegates of
the Borough Councils, held in July, 1904, adopted a resolution (No. 36) to the effect "That the
business of a fried fish shopkeeper should be aaded to the list of offensive businesses specified in
Section 19 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891."
marine Stores.—The business of a marine store dealer is not scheduled in the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, as an "offensive business," though it gives rise to offensive smells, and
has been held by the Court of Appeal to be ejusdem generis with the businesses originally scheduled
as "offensive" in the (now repealed) Slaughter-houses (Metropolis) Act, 1874. Acting upon my
advice, the late Vestry made application to the late Metropolitan Board of Works, in 1883, to
schedule the business under that Act, but without success; and in 1896, upon receipt of complaints
of nuisance arising in the conduct of the business, a similar application was made to the County
Council under the provisions of Section 19 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. This application,
likewise, was unsuccessful. The subject was dealt with fully in the annual report for
1896—pages 119-123. The premises where the business is carried on, to the number of 17, are kept
under observation. The Conference of Delegates of the Borough Councils held in July, 1904,
(vide page 84), adopted a resolution (No. 35) to the effect "That the business of a marine store dealer
should be added to the list of offensive businesses specified in Section 19 of the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891." The County Council were requested by the Conference to make "Orders" to
carry out the foregoing resolutions with respect to Fried Fish Shops and Marine Stores. Their
Public Health Committee dealt with the subject in a report on legislative proposals for the Session
of 1907, in which they said—
"There can be no doubt as to the desirableness of regulating the conditions under which the trades
in question are pursued," and that "this could best be done if the Council were empowered to make, for
the conduct of the businesses, by-laws to be enforced by the borough councils. Such by-laws (they
added) would in the case of fried fish shops and fish curers' premises, deal with such matters as the
prevention of nuisance arising from the escape of vapour, and conditions which may involve risk of contamination
of the fish; and in the case of marine stores the proper cleansing and ventilation of such stores,
and the storage under proper conditions of perishable and offensive articles."
The recommendation the Committee submitted to the Council, was that application be made
to Parliament for authority—
"Enabling the Council to make by-laws, to be enforced by sanitary authorities, with regard to the
proper regulation of the businesses of a seller of fried fish, fish-curer, and marine store dealer."
Application is being made to Parliament in the County Council's (General Powers) Bill for the
current Session, for authority "To enable the Council to make by-laws." The better course, I
think, would have been to add the businesses to the list of offensive trades, as recommended by
the Conference.
SEWER SMELLS.
The summer months were unusually cool, and the rainfall, of average amount, was fairly evenly
distributed, the result being a satisfactory condition of the sewers and a minimum of offensive
emanations therefrom. I do not recall any summer so marked by relative absence of complaints.
Many complaints, however, were received in the month of February from inhabitants on the line
of the "Relief" sewer—from Cornwall Road, North Kensington, where it commences at the middle
level sewer to Upper Addison Gardens—where it joins the Counters Creek sewer. A communition
was addressed to the County Council, which elicited an explanation from the Chief Engineer to