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80
During the year 1903 complaints were received concerning refuse
tips belonging to the Council situated in the borough. The question of
house refuse disposal was considered by the Council and arrangements
were made for the removal of such material out of the borough without
causing a serious nuisance. Complaints also resulted from the deposit
of fish offal used for manuring land in Hither Green. This had been
spread over the farmer's land and allowed to remain uncovered thus
creating a serious offence. The farmer was fined £5 and costs.
Under the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, the occupiers of all
underground bakehouses existing in the borough were compelled to
bring their premises into such a state as would entitle them to a certificate
of fitness issued by the Council. Twenty-three such underground bakehouses
were reported to be satisfactory in 1903, and the necessary certicates
were granted.
Another subject of interest in 1903 was the pollution of the rivers
Pool and Ravensbourne. Tests were carried out and both rivers and
their tributaries proved to be heavily polluted. This was mainly due to
the effluent from the filter beds of the then Croydon Sewage Farm at
Elmers End. The real danger was from the consumption of possibly
polluted water cress grown at the time in Southend Lane. A further
nuisance arose from the escape of water-gas tar into the river Pool
from containers in the grounds of the Crystal Palace District Gas
Company at Sydenham. This material covered the surface of the river
and seriously fouled its bed and banks, creating a most serious and
offensive nuisance in the districts through which the river flowed.
The Council instituted proceedings in the High Court, and were successful.
The company then took the necessary steps in 1904 to remedy
the nuisance.
The register of sanitary work for the year 1901 which is reproduced
at the beginning of this section gives a good indication of the type of
general inspections of premises carried out by the sanitary inspectors.
The designation Sanitary Inspector was changed in 1956 to "Public
Health Inspectors". Over the years the inspectorate has increased from
six in 1901 to nineteen in 1964. There has been considerable diversification
in inspectors work, and many extra duties have been given to them.
Much of the work of the inspectorate is done informally and does not
show up in statistics. It is therefore difficult to give an accurate assessment
of their work. In this section for instance, it would appear that the
inspection of premises has fallen off considerably in the last several years.
This is true to a degree, but whereas before, mostly due to economic
circumstances it was necessary to take formal action against owners to
force them to put their premises in good order, nowadays an informal
meeting, a letter, or a telephone call will often have the desired effect.
The figure quoted overleaf are for the last full year before the
1914-18 war and for the last full year before the last war. These may be
compared with those on page 29 of this report.