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i8
NUISANCES.
No less than 1,282 complaints of nuisances were received.
Of these many were anonymous, not a few founded on insufficient
grounds, and some may be called malicious. The man who is
got rid of by his landlord, the servant who is dismissed, the
employee who for some reason or other thinks herself ill-used,
lodges an unsigned complaint at the office of the Local
Authority for the purpose of annoyance. Nevertheless, although
attempts are constantly made by individuals to further their
private ends by making use of the machinery of the Public
Health Acts, it is recognised that it would be unsafe to ignore
information from whatever source, even if inspired by obvious
malevolent motives, for in a residuum of cases the evil is real,
not imaginary.
As in past years, so in 1905, by far the great majority of
nuisances were remedied directly the person legally liable for
the same was apprised of the existence of the nuisance by letter
or formal intimation ; hence the notices actually issued by the
Public Health Committee were only 181. Of these more than
half relate to defective drainage; the rest to a variety of
miscellaneous matters, such as cleansing, defective yard paving,
defective sanitary appliances, and so forth. The new powers
under Part 1 of the London County Council General Powers
Act, which enables a local authority to enforce the proper
disinfection and cleansing of a verminous room or house were
put in force twice, and the writer issued his certificate as required
by the Act. Before the Act came into force such cases could
be dealt with more or less perfectly under the general nuisance
section of the Public Health Act; but the new law is more direct,
and therefore easier to enforce.
Before leaving the subject of nuisances there is one class of
nuisance for which there is no satisfactory legal remedy, viz., the
use of dark corners and quiet places for the purposes of a
urinal.
The usual communication is made to the police when
complaint is lodged, but the police, it appears, have no power to
deal with persons committing these acts unless there should be
indecent exposure.
The writer has long been of opinion that this matter
should be the subject for legislation. It would be simple and
just to make it an offence punishable by fine, always provided
that there was a public urinal within say, 4CO yards, and that
there was a notice on the wall or in sight of the particular spot
stating clearly that no nuisance was to be committed there
under a penalty, and that there was a public urinal situated in
such-and-such a spot so many yards from there.