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PIGEON NUISANCE
For ma ny years various persons or firms have been authorised to catch pigeons in the City
in places where there congregation becomes excessive. No charge has been made for this work
but the carcases of the birds have remained the property of the catchers.
Early in the year evidence showed that the number of pigeons in the City was increasing
and I received complaints of an urgent nature of the damage caused by the birds, particularly in
St. Paul's Gardens, St. Paul's Churchyard and Finsbury Circus.
I was informed, however, by the firm who have carried out the work of reducing the number of
pigeons in the City for some years, that they could not in future undertake this service without
charge as the carcases of the birds were no longer saleable.
The firm submitted a quotation, which was accepted by the City Corporation, to maintain the
pigeon population at reasonable proportions and to deal with specific complaints for an annual
fee. As a consequence of this arrangement, 1,121 pigeons were caught during the year and
cause for complaint appears to have decreased..
EXCAVATION OF HUMAN REMAINS
The destruction caused by the late war and consequent rebuilding of the City have rendered
it necessary to cut roads through or erect buildings on the sites of the burial grounds of several
old City Churches.
In such circumstances, human remains which are unearthed in the course of excavations are,
with the sanction of the Home Office, Ecclesiastical Authorities, City Coroner and City Police,
taken to an approved burial ground where they are reverently re-interred.
During the year excavations were carried out at the disused burial ground of St. Martin in the
Vintry, Upper Thames Street, and 152 cases of human remains were re-enterred at the City of
London Cemetery. Excavations at the site of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, resulted in 67 lead coffins
and 307 boxes of human remains being subsequently re-buried at a cemetery in Woking. On every
occasion, always early in the morning, when remains were placed in the vehicles which were to
take them from the City to the cemetery, one of my officers was present to ensure that due reverence
was observed and that no nuisance was caused.
DISPOSAL OF BROKEN FISH BOXES - BILLINGSGATE MARKET
Every day approximately 1% tons of broken fish boxes are left in Billingsgate Market and
the sites surrounding it. Despite extensive enquiries it has been found impossible to ascertain
who is responsible for the dumping of these boxes. Normally they are collected and despatched
for burning in the destructor and salvage plant operated by one of the North London Borough
Councils. Occasionally, however, it is impossible for the Borough Council to accept the boxes,
at which times serious nuisance might be caused from smells and flies were the boxes to be left
around the Market.
It was decided that in cases of necessity the most hygienic and economic disposal of these
broken fish boxes would be to burn them on suitable sites near Billingsgate Market on Saturday
afternoons or Sundays, subject to the operations being strictly controlled and supervised, after
due notification to the Fire Service and the City of London Police.
As an experiment, 3 tons of boxes were burnt on a Sunday in July. The site chosen was deep
in the foundations of a bombed out building. There was no nuisance from smoke. Indeed, the
visibility of the smoke was so negligible that the provisions of the City of London (Various
Powers) Act, 1954, which declared the City a "smokeless zone", were not contravened neither
was there any "fishy" smell.
In future, therefore, should necessity arise, broken fish boxes will be burnt in the manner
outlined above.
LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL CLEANSING STATION AT 20, GOLDEN LANE
In 1911, by Section 122 of the Children Act, 1908, the Corporation as the Local Sanitary
Authority and the London Counci Council as the Local Education Authority entered into an
Agreement whereby the Corporation provided and equipped part of the premises of the City
Mortuary, Golden Lane, as a Children's Cleansing Station "to effect the cleansing of the person
and clothing of any child attending a public elementary school provided or maintained by the
Council who or whose clothing may be found to be infested with vermin or in a foul or filthy
condition". This was originally limited to children resident in the City, but was later extended
to include all children attending public elementary schools in the City, and a London County
Council Nurse was appointed in charge.