Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Poplar, Bromley, South District comprising the parishes of All Saints Poplar and Bromley Saint Leonard]
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against this bye-law is five pounds, and in case of a continuance of the
offence to a further penalty of forty shillings for each day after written
notice of the offence from the sanitary authority. In the above two
cases it did not seem even possible to cover the "carriage" so as to
prevent any nuisance arising therefrom, which was another infringement
of the same bye-law. It appeared from complaints that the
bye-law respecting the removal of offensive material was being evaded;
the "carriages or vessels" removing such material were not properly
covered so as to keep in the effluvia, and the material was not
removed within the prescribed hours. Between the hours of 4
and 5 o'clock in the afternoon many vehicles carrying decaying
and noxious material were passing down the Bow Road, leaving
a most offensive smell behind. The material in some cases
was simply covered by a tarpaulin or carried in open tubs; the
vehicles were driven at such a pace that it would be difficult
to stop them to obtain the name and address of the owner
without the aid of the police. Section 229 of the Metropolis
Local Management Act, 1855, in the case of "transient offenders"
empowers" any officer or servant of . . . any Vestry or District
Board, and for any police-constable . . . to seize and detain
any person who has committed any offence against the provisions of
this Act or any bye-law made in pursuance thereof, and whose name
and residence shall be unknown to such officer or servant or policeconstable,
and convey him . . before some justice," etc., etc.
The Public Health (London) Act, section 16 (under which the bye-law
in question has been made), by its sub-section 4 enacts :—" Except as
otherwise provided by the bye-laws, a constable may arrest without
warrant and take before a justice any person whom he finds
committing an offence against such bye-laws, and who refuses to
give his true name and address." The 1855 Act enacts that any
officer or servant of a Vestry or District Board, or any police-constable,
can seize and detain any offender whose name and residence shall be
unknown; but from the 1891 Act a constable is only mentioned as
being able to seize and detain an offender against a bye-law made