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inspected, measured, and fully reported on. The notices ordered by the V estry
at their last meeting have all been served on the Dairymen. In addition to this,
many houses, the seats of epidemic disease, have been visited. 10 cases have been
taken before a Magistrate, who ordered the necessary works of drainage. One
man was taken to Clerkenwell for emptying a cesspool in the day time, and
without using any deodorising materials, fined in costs, and cautioned that he
was liable to 30 days imprisonment.
REMOVAL OF DUST.
Scarcely a day passes without complaints being received in reference to the
difficulty in obtaining the removal of dust from dwelling houses. In some
instances the complaint is that the dust-man does not come near the house, and
cannot be found; in others, that although he comes near he will not remove the
dust unless he be paid for so doing. This is a matter to which I have already
referred on more than one occasion, but unfortunately the evil appears to
increase rather than to diminish. It is really an evil affecting the health of the
community, and not a mere matter of convenience.
The ash-pit or dust-bin is used to receive almost every sort of domestic
refuse, and its contents, especially in summer, undergo decomposition and give
rise to most noxious, as well as offensive, effluvia. When the dust-bin is not
well constructed and without a cover, as is too often the case, the evolution of
these gases is much increased.
By the contract entered into with the Vestry by the several contractors for
the removal of dust, it is especially provided that every street in the Parish
shall be visited by the dust-man at least once a week, and he is bound to
remove all the refuse from any house on the request of the occupier, and is forbidden
under a penalty to demand any fee for so doing; moreover, he is required
to wear a badge with a number on it, so that he may be readily identified.
These provisions are very good in themselves, but they are systematically
set at nought in some parts of the Parish. It is the poor who especially suffer,
because they cannot afford to pay the sum required for the removal of the dust,
and they have but a very imperfect notion of the means by which they can
obtain redress, or even effect their object.
There is some difficulty in fixing the offences above-mentioned upon the
guilty individuals, partly on account of the men omitting to wear their badges,
and partly from the unwillingness of complainants to do anything more specific
than make a general charge, without going to the trouble of identifying the
man and reporting his number or name at the office. There have, however, been
recently two or three cases in which the offenders have been detected, and their
names are in the possession of the Chief Surveyor. It is to be hoped that the
Committee of Works will not allow these cases to pass unnoticed.
There are several points in reference to this matter, on which it would be
useful that the Public should be instructed, and I believe that considerable
benefit would arise from the distribution of notices with this object through tho
Parish. In the first place they should be told that the dust-man is bound to
remove the dust from their houses on being requested to do so, and that he i-s
not entitled to any fee or reward for so doing. They should be urged to report
all cases, in which the dust-man fails to do his duty, to the Office, in Edward
Street, ascertaining the number on the badge of the man who is culpable.
Further, they might be told that it lies to some extent in their own power to