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from getting clown the river, no nuisances were discovered. In Wandsworth, however, Dr.
Caldwell Smith states a number of complaints of accumulations were received, and Dr. Dudfield
refers to nuisance in Kensington from peat moss litter at the time of removal, and of the need
for the sanitary authority to undertake the systematic removal of stable manure. Steps generally
were taken in the several districts to secure the removal of such manure when accumulations were
found.
Removal and disposal of house refuse.
As the result of the County Council by-law requiring house refuse to be removed from
all premises not less frequently than once a week, great improvement has been effected in the
efficiency of this branch of work. The success attained by the Borough Council of Islington
is referred to by the medical officer of health of that district, who states that the number of
occasions in which the house occupier had to make application for the removal of his refuse was
in 1902 only 198 ; this may be compared with the number of such applications in 1891, which
amounted to 10,138. Less satisfactory results were attained in St. Pancras, where in 1902 the
number of applications amounted to 2,172. In Hackney the number of applications in 1902 was
355, but this number would have been much less but for numerous applications in July, in which
month an interval occurred between the expiration of former contracts and a new contract. During
the year a new destructor, connected with the electric lighting station, came into use, and the old
system of depositing the refuse on a shoot was abandoned ; Dr. Warry includes in his report a
table showing that the numbers of refusals to allow the scavenger to remove the refuse were never
less than 4,166 in any week of the year, and were often twice that number. Refusal, however,
is obstruction, for which the borough council can recover a penalty, and it is probable that
resort to this measure would soon materially reduce the number of occasions on which difficulties
are thus put in the way of the systematic scavenging of the district.
A by-law of the County Council gives opportunity for the daily collection of house refuse
by requiring the occupiers of houses after notice to deposit the dust receptacle on the kerbstone,
or on the outer edge of the footway at such hour as the local authority may prescribe. The
by-laws of the Council are not operative in the City, and the Corporation obtained parliamentary
powers requiring house occupiers who do not deposit their house refuse in the ash-pit attached
to the building, to deposit the refuse in a suitable receptacle on the kerbstone before eight o'clock
in the morning, and enabling the Corporation to make by-laws for giving effect to this requirement,
The medical officer of health of Woolwich states that the Plumstead dust destructor, which
was being erected, would shortly be at work, and he suggests that the borough council's dust
shoot might well be converted into a recreation ground. The Woolwich parish dust destructor
has not given rise to complaints, " although it has been observed to produce a large amount of
smoke of a light grey colour.'' The system of destruction of dust by fire is being increasingly
adopted. The medical officer of health of the riverside district of Lambeth reports that " There
is one matter that requires the immediate attention of the council, viz.: the provision of two
(or more) destructors in different parts of the borough for the destruction of house (and other)
refuse, in place of the present method of barging. By such a change, there would be a large
financial saving as well as a great sanitary improvement." The medical officer of health of
Greenwich refers to the use of Greenwich marshes for the tipping of rubbish. He states that
"unfortunately the chief offenders in this respect appeared to be the borough council themselves,
for the portion of waste land which is rented by them and used for the depositing of house refuse,
was, at the time of my visit, in a most offensive, unsightly, and disgusting condition. The
matter from cesspools appeared to have been deposited within a very few yards from the side
of the public roadway, instead of, as it might have been, taken to the farthest extremity of
the land. The portion used for depositing ash-pit refuse was also in a most unsightly condition,
being covered with loose papers, blowing about in all directions ; and I am certainly of opinion
that the time has come when this council should seriously consider the question as to whether
some better method of disposing of the refuse should not be adopted in the way of suitable refuse
destructors." Again, the medical officer of health and the surveyor of Lewisham, after inspecting
the three house refuse tips of the borough council, situated respectively on the east side of
Hither Green-lane, the south side of Killearn-road, Catford, and on the west side of Bromlevroad
and east side of Exbury-road, advised the council "to substitute as quickly as possible more
efficient and sanitary methods for the disposal of this material."
Nuisance from sewers.
The medical officer of health of Kensington states that no complaints were received of
emanations from the Counter's-creek sewer during the past year. The medical officer of health
of Poplar refers to nuisance from the sewer in Old Ford-road, Cadogan-terrace, Wansbeck-road
and Smeed-road. Alterations were effected in Smeed-road, and an opening closed and ventilating
shaft erected in Old Ford-road, but other openings remain. Floodings in 1902 are reported
in the Lewisham Village ward, in the Borough of Lewisham, and in properties upon the low-
lying land on the north side of Woolwich-road in the Borough of Greenwich. No flooding
occurred in Hackney Wick in 1902.
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The Regent's Canal.
The condition of the Regent's Canal was under consideration of the Council's Public Health
Committee during 1902. Inspections were made during June and July and the canal water was
found to be free from nuisance, but the dead bodies of animals were occasionally to be found