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165
instruction of the Public Health Committee, came to the
conclusion that the cremation of house refuse may be
effected, in a properly constructed apparatus, without nuisance.
The report of these officers having been forwarded by the
Council to your Vestry, and referred to the Wharves and Plant
Committee, I reported thereon, at the request of the Committee,
dealing with the subject, of course, from the sanitary point of
view. I stated that I agreed with the conclusion arrived at by
the Medical Officer of Health and the Engineer, and that " the
process (of cremation) would appear to offer, in existing
circumstances, the most effectual and economical, and the only
sanitary method of dealing with the refuse of the parish,
inasmuch as, at the minimum of cost, the offensive constituents
of the domestic receptacle called a dust-bin, can be reduced in
bulk by some three-fourths, the residuum, morever, being not
only innocuous, but, where the demand for such material
prevails, also of some value." I concluded by commending the
report to the favourable consideration of the Committee,
"believing that the erection and utilisation of dust destructors
in this parish would be a distinct advantage from the public
health point of view." No steps have been taken hitherto to
give effect to these recommendations. Indeed this solution of
the difficulty seems to be further off than ever, seeing that the
Wharves and Plant Committee, on the reference by your Vestry
"as to the possibility of securing, on advantageous terms, a
suitable site for the erection of a cremator for the disposal of
the refuse of the Northern portion of the Parish," reported (in
October), "that, looking to the possible development of electric
traction at an early date, it is not advisable to take further
action in the matter at present." The Surveyor had reported
on available sites for a cremator, and submitted estimates of
the cost of cremating the refuse. It appeared to the Committee,
from his figures, that little saving was likely to accrue from the
adoption of a cremation scheme at either of the two sites.
But surely the question should be viewed from another than
the pecuniary side.