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102
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
the works were discharged and the Council were so impressed
with the existence of this nuisance that two Reeves' Ventilating
Apparatuses were constructed in the two manholes nearest
these works, with the result that the nuisance from these
particular openings was abated to a very great extent. The
following report was presented to the Council in consequence
of a letter to the Local Government Board by one of the owners
of property in the neighbourhood.
10th March, 1904.
The nuisance complained of by Mr. A. Wellings in his letter to
the Local Government Board is caused by the discharge into the sewer
of the drainage and waste products from the works of Messrs.
Wickens, Pease & Co., and also by the escape of effluvia from the
works themselves.
Two distinct businesses are carried on at these premises, viz:—
that of bone boiling and of tallow melting, and to this may be added
on a smaller scale that of glue making.
These processes have been carried on at these premises for a
considerable time previous to the passing of the Slaughterhouses Act
of 1874, and until the passing of the Local Government Act, 1899, the
works were under the supervision of the London County Council's
Officials. That Act transferred the supervision of offensive trades to
the Borough Councils.
The premises are situated at the foot of Trewint Street,.
Wandsworth, and are bounded on all sides by the river Wandle,.
which divides into two about 50 yards above the bridge leading from
Trewint Street to the works.
Up to four years ago, the only houses in the neighbourhood
were those in Trewint and Summerley Streets, and those houses on
the same estate facing Garratt Lane.
Few complaints were received by this Department until the
houses on Garratt Park Estate were erected, and since the whole of
the available building land in the immediate neighbourhood has been
built on, complaints of smell from these premises became more
frequent.