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44
Smoke Nuisance.—Complaints continue to be received
regarding smoke and grit nuisances in the East Greenwich area,
and there is no doubt but that the increasing atmospheric pollution
referred to by the Astronomer Royal earlier in this report is due
in a large measure to emanations from this area. In view of the
fact that there was no evidence of amelioration of these conditions
during the year, the Council at the year end had under consideration
the question of taking statutory action.
Sewers, etc.—Very few complaints were received in the
Department. It is interesting to note that the number of Cesspools
in the Borough is gradually dwindling. I am informed by
the Borough Engineer that there are now only 10 Cesspools
in use in the Borough, one of which is cleansed by the owners of
the property and one other, owing to its inaccessible position, is
dealt with by the owner at the cost of this Council. It is anticipated
owing to further developments that two or three others
will shortly become redundant when the properties concerned are
demolished and new development takes place on the sites.
Common Lodging House.—One common lodging house
exists in the Borough. It is regularly visited by the Sanitary
Inspector and is well conducted.
Scavenging and Refuse Disposal.—The collection of
refuse in the Borough is under the control of the Borough
Engineer, who has ldndly supplied me with the following information
relating to disposal.
"The amount of refuse collected in the Borough during the
year ended 31st December, 1937 was approximately 21,016 tons
of which 17,284 tons were dealt with at the Council's Refuse Disposal
Plant. The total tonnage collected again shows a reduction this
year of rather over 4% as compared with last year. This is in
spite of a considerably greater number of properties in the Borough
from which refuse is collected, but is generally in agreement with
results noticed in other Boroughs.
"The new conveyor for the handling of ashes from the rotary
screens was installed in the early part of the year, which involve
the shutting down of the plant for about 2 weeks when all refuse
had to be dealt with by barging away. In consequence, the
percentage of refuse dealt with at the Disposal plant over the whole
of this year is approximately 83% of the total, although during
normal periods practically 95% of the refuse collected is dealt
with at the Plant."