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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The districts in which these premises are situated, the number of premises, and, for some districts, the number of inspections, are shown in the following table:—
Sanitary area. | No. on Register * at end of 1907. | No. of Inspections, 1907. | Sanitary area. | No. on Register * at end of 1907. | No. of Inspections, 1907. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kensington | 1 | 37 | Poplar | 9 | 57 |
Hammersmith | 4 | 96 | South wark | 7 | 79 |
St. Marylebone | 2 | Bermondsey | 12 | 135 | |
St. Pancras | 2 | Lambeth | 4 | ||
Islington | 7 | 118 | Battersea | 2 | 29 |
Hackney | 2 | 12 | W ands worth | 6 | 111 |
1 | Camberwell | 4 | |||
Shoreditch | 1 | 6 | Deptford | 4 | 51 |
Bethnal Green | 1 | 6 | Greenwic | 2 | |
Stepney | 8 | 16 | Woolwich | 1 |
In 1907 the Council made new bylaws for the following offensive businesses (1) bone boiler,
manure manufacturer and tallow melter ; (2) soap boiler, (3) tripe boiler, (4) gut scraper and cat-gut
maker or cat-gut manufacturer, (5) fat melter or fat extractor, (6) glue and size manufacturer, (7)
knacker, (8) fellmonger, (9) dresser of fish skins and decided to apply to the Local Government Board
for their confirmation. A material point in which these bylaws differ from those which they supersede
is in the extension of the principle of the use of a " closed chamber " to all offensive processes and
in improvement in the method of ventilation of these chambers.
Nuisances.
SmoJce nuisance.
References in the annual reports to smoke nuisances indicate that among the chief offenders
are electricity generating stations and bakehouses. Dr. Reginald Dudfield is able to report that during
the last three years there has been decreasing evidence of smoke nuisance in Paddington, a result
which, he says, is partially attributable to the removal from the borough of the Great Western Company's
electric generating station. Dr. Priestley states that in 1907 no nuisance was experienced from
the 37 shafts from the potteries in that district, a result in part explicable by the firms in
question employing smoke inspectors of their own to observe hourly the chimney shafts, and by a
system of a bonus distribution once or twice a year to those stokers against whom there were no
complaints of neglect. The need for amendment of the law continues to be urged, so as to substitute
other words for " black smoke," and thus secure some definition of the amount of smoke which is to
be nrohibited.
The following table, which is compiled from information contained in the annual reports, shows the action taken by sanitary authorities in respect of smoke nuisance during the year.
Sanitary Area. | Observations and inspections. | Nuisances and complaints. | intimations. | Notices. | Summonses. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Paddington | 119 | ||||
Kensington | |||||
Hammersmith | 34 (promises) | 8 | 16 | ||
Fulham | 10 | 5 | |||
Chelsea | 1 | ||||
Westminster, City of | 2,417 | 48 | 106 | 15 | 2 |
St. Marylebone | 653 observations | 22 | 1 | 2 | |
Hampstead | 496 inspections | 4 | |||
St. Pancras | 762 | 15 | |||
Islington | 825 | ||||
Stoke Newington | 1 | ||||
Hackney | 1,639 | 2 | 58 | 3 | |
Holborn | 104 | 13 | 3 | ||
Finsbury | 130 | 41 | 20 | 16 | 3 |
London, City of | 341 | 12 | 12 | ||
Shoreditch | 27 | 1 | |||
Bethnal Green | 560 (premises) | 34 | |||
Stepney | 104 | 3 | |||
Poplar | 102 | 56 | 48 | 6 | |
South wark | 525 | 66 | 22 | 8 | 8 |
Bermondsey | 271 (chimneys) | 55 | |||
Lambeth | 580 | 64 | 4 | ||
Battersea | 75 | 68 | 12 | 16 | |
W andsworth | 60 | 3 | |||
Camberwell | 82 | ||||
Deptford | 188 | 29 | 29 | ||
Greenwich | 305 | 8 | |||
Lewisham | 176 | 7 | 2 | 1 | |
Woolwich | 106 | 10 | 10 |
* The business at some of these premises was discontinued during the year 190/ ; as however the statutoryperiod
of nine months had not elapsed at the end of the year the entries relating to these premises were not cancelled
in the Council's register.