Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Nuisances.
Smoke nuisances.
In all the annual reports reference is made to smoke nuisances, and in a number of insiances
particulars are given of the number of observations or inspections made during the year, the number
of notices served or pautions given and the number of summonses issued. The following table has been
compiled from the information contained in these reports.
Sanitary Area. | Observations and inspections. | Nuisances and complaints. | Notices. | Summonses. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Paddington | 133 (23 premises) | 5 | ||
Kensington | In a few instances | |||
Hammersmth | (50 premises) | 17 | ||
Fulham | 19 | |||
Chelsea | 4 | |||
Westminster, City of | 3,191 | 55 (nuisances 102) | 168 | 5 |
St. Marylebone | 259 | 26 | 19 | |
Hampstead | 16 | 4 | 2 | |
St. Pancras | 721 | 8 | ||
Islington | 515 | |||
Stoke Newington | (43 premises) | 3 | ||
Hackney | 1,590 | 62 | ||
Holborn | 388 | 41 | 2 | |
Finsbury | 135 | 11 | 28 | 3 |
London, City of | 1,202 (55 premises) | 1 | ||
Shoreditch | (13 premises) | 24 | ||
Bethnal Green | (786 premises) | 36 | ||
Stepney | 78 | 25 | 1 | |
Poplar | 176 | 160 | 7 | |
Southwark | 270 | 55 | 28 | 6 |
Bermondsey | 148 | 48 | ||
Lambeth | 540 (41 premises) | 46 | ||
Battersea | 72 | 79 | 5 | |
Wandsworth | 33 | 2 | ||
Camberwell | 56 | |||
Deptford | 193 | 40 | ||
Greenwich | 369 | 11 | 1 | |
Lewisham | 199 | 25 | 30 | 1 |
Woolwich | 136 | 29 | 29 |
Complaints as to smoke nuisances from railway locomotives are referred to in some of the
reports (Greenwich, Wandsworth and Lewisham), and penalties were recovered by the Greenwich and
Wandsworth Borough Councils. In Poplar proceedings were instituted and penalties recovered in
rcspect of smoke nuisances from road traction engines. As the result of complaint from the
Smoke Abatement Society, observation was made in Lambeth of the chimneys from various business
premises on the river, but without ground for proceedings being found. Among premises which are
specially commented on as giving rise to smoke nuisance are electric light stations. Proceedings
concerning smoke nuisances from hotels were instituted in Westminster in five instances, and
penalties were recovered. The Public Control Committee of the London County Council communicated
692 reports of smoke nuisance to the borough councils, with the result that notices were served
in 309 cases, legal proceedings instituted in 43, and convictions obtained in 40.
Nuisance from Stable Manure.
Nuisance from stable manure is discussed in several reports of the medical officers of health,
and the extent to which horses are kept in some parts of London may be gathered from the information
which is thus supplied. In the City there are 432 horses in 31 stables, irrespective of those in a large
horse repository in the Barbican, where the number of horses stabled is constantly varying In Finsbury,
there are 5,519 horses in 494 stables, some of which have several hundred horses in them ; one as many
as 470. In Wandsworth there are 7,000 horses approximately in the borough, 2,400 of which are owned
by omnibus companies. In Southwark there are 521 stables accommodating 7,152 horses. In Battersea
there are 570 stables in which were 3,065 horses and 18 donkeys.
Dr. Millson, writing of the stables in Southwark, states that while firms employing a large number
of horses are often found to provide 100 square feet of floor space per horse, others provide much less,
especially omnibus and cab proprietors. Thus in 22 stables there was less than 50 square feet of floor
space per horse, in 30 stables from 50 to 60 square feet, in 71 stables from 60 to 70 square feet, in 62
stables from 70 to 80 square feet, in 46 stables from 80 to 90 square feet, in 58 stables from 90 to 100
square feet, and in 232 stables over 100 square feet per horse.