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The walls and passages of 249 houses were cleansed and limewhited or
whitewashed.
Overcrowding was abated in 48 houses.
Accumulations of manure were removed, in consequence of notices or
summonses, in 275 cases.
Fifteen sties of pigs were removed.
Other nuisances, to the number of 192, were abated.
For the accomplishment of these works, 790 primary notices, and 74 final
notices were issued. Forty-four summonses were heard before the Police Courts,
in consequence of neglect of notices.
In the Appendix is given a list of the sewers constructed by the Vestry
during the year.
There have been seized, as unfit for human food, the following articles,
which were exposed for sale:—
18 pads of plaice, 4 barrels of fresh herrings, 5 boxes of kippered herrings,
58 pads of mackeral, 6 pads of soles, 3 kits of crabs, 28 craw-fish, 7 lots of
sprats, 35 rabbits, 1 buttock of beef, 33 bushels of pears, and a large quantity
of rotten oranges, plums, and other fruit.
There are 93 licensed slaughter-houses and 87 licensed cow-houses in the
parish. These are periodically visited by the Inspectors, as also are the
bake-houses. No prosecutions have been necessary during the year, for infringement
of the Bake-houses' Regulation Act. A few cautionary notices have been
necessary, calling attention to the need of whitewashing, but these have been
complied with in every case at once.
The Cattle Plague made its appearance in one or two sheds in this parish
during the month of July last. Several weeks elapsed before its true nature
was understood. It subsequently spread to more than two-thirds of the sheds
in the parish. It is impossible to estimate the degree to which its ravages
extended. In the earlier periods of the epidemic, large numbers of cattle,
immediately on their being attacked, were disposed of to butchers, and killed
for human food; many others were sent away lest they should contract the
disease, many died from the disease, and many were slaughtered by order of the
Government Inspector. No facts have come to my knowledge which indicate
that any one suffered in health from eating the meat of the diseased animals.
It has been chiefly of importance to the health of the poor, by raising the price
of meat and milk, and thus preventing their obtaining sufficient nourishment for
themselves and their children. The Cow-keepers themselves have been very
heavy losers, and in many cases have been made bankrupt. The number of cows
now in the parish is not more than half what it was last year. Since October
last, the Privy Council has appointed an Inspector, under the Cattle Disease
Prevention Act; the matter has in this way been taken out of the hands of
your Sanitary Inspectors, so that I am not in possession of many statistics of
the disease in the parish.
The disease has not prevailed to any great extent in St. Pancras since the
beginning of the present year, 1866. There were nine cases in December, none
in January, two in February, six in March, and two in the first week of April;
since the 7th of April no cases have been reported by the Government Inspector.
The result of this disease has been to compel dairymen to obtain their
supply of milk much more largely from the country. This, though at first