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139
The expression "trade refuse" means "the refuse of any trade, manufacture,
or business, or of any building materials." Several eases have been
taken to the Court?, which either modify the definitions above given or make
more clear their meaning.
St. Martin's Vestry r. Gordon decided that clinkers produced in the furnaces
of boilers in an hotal used to generate steam for supplying power for the
electric lighting of the hotel, for heating the public rooms and passages, for
cooking, and for working the lift, and pumping water to the top of the hotel
are not " refuse of any trade, manufacture, or business " within the meaning
of Section 128 of the Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855, and, therefore,
the Vestry within whose district the hotel is situated are not entitled to be
paid for the removal of them. This decision has been sustained in a case
under the Public Health (London) Act, lb91, in regard to the same premises,
namely, the Hotel Metropole.
Gay v. Cadby decided that ashes from coals burnt in the furnace of a steam
engine used for the purpose of sawing timber and carrying on the business of
pianoforte manufacturer were refuse of a trade, business, or manufacture.
The Corporation of the City of London t. Lyons decided that refuse which
included coffee grounds, egg shells, broken crockery, and general sweepings
came within the description of " house refuse," but the Lord Chief Justice
said that the case was one of considerable difficulty and importance, and he
hoped it would be taken to a higher Court. The other Judges agreed.
The London and Provincial Laundry Company r. Willesden Local Board
decided that clinkers produced in the furnaces of boilers belonging to a steam
laundry used to generate steam for the purpose principally of heating the
water used in the business, but also for the purpose of warming the laundry,
nre not " house refuse."
The condition applying generally throughout the Borough as to the frequency
of removal is that imposed bv the by-law, namely, a weekly collection,
but in the various streets named by the Commissioner of Police as within the
" special limits," which comprise the main roads, such as Tottenham Court
Road, Euston Road, Gray's Inn Road, Judd Street, Hampstead Road, and
Drummond Street, daily collection is made if householders choose to avail
themselves of it by putting their refuse out on the kerb before 10 a.m., but it
is not all who do so, many being content with removal two or three times a
week.
Daily collection is made from the hospitals, large hotels, restaurants, and
coffee-houses; and from the railway stations and principal localities for
boarding houses, and from most of the large blocks of Hats the dust is removed
two or three times a week.
No attempt is made to draw a hard-and-fast line between " house refuse "
and "trade refuse." If it were, most of the shopkeepers in the Borough
would bo in difficulties, and so long as the quantities are not excessive from
any premises, the refuse is removed without cost to the tenant, but endeavour
is made to exclude all builders' refuse and incombustible material, such as
boiler clinker, and the refuse of materials in factories of all classes. Some of
the larger firms regularly bring their combustible refuse to the Destructor,
and pay for it at the rate of 5s. per ton.
I have, &c.,
Wm. N. Blair,
Engineer and Surveyor.