View report page

174
addressed to the Board by Mr. Nightingale, of the Albert
Works, Albert Embankment, with reference to the dust
and refuse yards (including the 2 destructor furnaces) in
Tinworth Street, in the occupation of Messrs. Clarkson &
Sons. Previous complaints have been received from time to
time, but sufficient evidence has never been forthcoming to
warrant legal proceedings being taken. In consequence
of the letter from the Local Government Board, special (daily)
observations have been kept by the Sanitary Inspector and
the Medical Officer, but no definite nuisance was discovered
with which the Council could be advised to deal with any
prospect of success.
There are difficulties in connection with this particular
business of refuse destruction, which is not an offensive
trade scheduled as such under section 19 of the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, and the removal and disposal of house
refuse must of necessity be carried out by someone for the
general benefit cf the inhabitants of the Borough concerned.
Further, under section 21 of the same Act, the business is
a "Protected" Trade, in that, although there may be a
nuisance from effluvia, the Magistrate shall not convict if it
can be shewn that the best practicable means have been used
for abating the nuisance, or counteracting or preventing the
effluvia. For the purposes of this section, a memorial signed
by not less than 10 inhabitants is required before proceedings
can be taken before the Magistrate.
The destructor furnaces in use are built on what is known
as the Martin Patent, and are provided with cremators, or
secondary fires, at the backs of the furnaces. The object of
these secondary fires is to complete the combustion of any
offensive fumes or gases, organic or otherwise, which are
given off frcm the burning refuse. On occasions, these fires
have been found not to be in proper working condition, and
the attention of Messrs. Clarkson & Sons have been drawn
to the matter. At times, too, refuse is collected in the yards