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11
The Vestry has given an order for new sewers in John Street and Windmill
Street, Tottenham Court Road, but the work is not yet commenced.
There are now 100 licensed slaughterhouses in the parish, all of which are
visited by the Inspectors at least four times a year. One application for a
license for a new slaughterhouse was refused by the Justices, at their Special
Sessions, in October last, on the ground that the premises were within 50 feet
of a dwelling-house, and consequently, as a new application, was contrary to
the requirements of the Building Act. The place was situated in South
Crescent Mews, and was in other respects suited for the purpose.
The Sanitary Committee requested the Justices to require that the number of
cows allowed in licensed cowhouses should be so limited as to admit of at least
600 cubic feet of breathing space for each cow. The Justices went further than
this, and required that 800 cubic feet of space should be given to each cow.
This requirement has the effect of reducing very considerably the number of
cows kept in some sheds. On the ground of an opposition on the part of the
inhabitants of Gordon Square and Byng Place, the magistrates refused to license
the cowsheds in Upper Gower Mews, belonging to Henry Bannister, Joseph
Bannister, and George Field, except upon the condition that the occupiers
should undertake not to use the premises for cowkeeping after the 24th June
instant. A license was refused to William Philips, for a cowhouse at the rear
of Grove Terrace, Kentish Town.
During the Session 1862-63, an Act of Parliament was passed for the regulation
of bakehouses. By this Act the Medical Officer of Health and Sanitary
Inspectors were appointed to inspect and report on the mode in which its
provisions are complied with, and the Vestry is the local authority for enforcing
the requirements of the Act. The main provisions of the Act are—
That no person under the age of 18 years shall be employed in any bakehouse
between 9 o'clock at night and 5 o'clock in the morning. That the walls
and coiling of every bakehouse, as well as the passages and staircases leading
thereto, shall be well cleansed at least twice a year. That every bakehouse
shall be kept clean, well ventilated, well drained, and free from all offensive
smells. That no place on the same level with a bakehouse, forming part of the
same building, shall be used as a sleeping room, unless it is effectually separated
from the bakehouse by a partition extending from the floor to the ceiling, and
unless there be an external glazed window, of at least 9 superficial feet in area,
of which at least 4½ superficial feet are made to open for ventilation.
Notices were printed and distributed to all the bakers in the parish, calling
their attention to the requirements of the Act, and informing them that the
Vestry intended to enforce them. All the bakehouses in the parish, about 220
in number, have since that time been inspected. It was found that more than
four-fifths of the whole number were underground. The great defect in a very
large proportion of them is want of space, and consequent want of good ventilation.
At the time of the inspection, in 44 of them, the walls and passages
required limewhiting, being very dirty; in 19 the walls were but indifferently
clean. The ceilings were very dirty in 55, and in 23 others they were but
indifferently clean. In 17 the general state of the premises was very dirty, and
in 14 others it was far from clean. In 4 there was the most imperfect provision
for ventilation, and in 10 others it was unsatisfactory. In very many other
places the means of ventilation were sufficient, but owing to the smallness of
the places, they are not kept well ventilated, because it is impossible to do so
without creating very strong draughts of cold air into the small heated space
where the men work. Another objection raised against the admission of