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77
"In their former report your Committee stated that the Local
Authority had in the regulations "specified requirements in respect
of cubic and floor space, size of stalls, paving, ventilation, &c., which
will involve reduction in the number of cows kept in several sheds,
and very considerable improvements, amounting almost to re-construction,
especially of the flooring, in many more of the sheds."
And, as already stated, the Board indicated to the licensees in the
month of September the nature and extent of these alterations,
improvements, &c. Meanwhile a return had been prepared by your
Yestry's Sanitary Department, shewing in what respects the several
sheds fall short of the requirements of the regulations, and a copy of
this return was forwarded to the Board. Copies of the communications
made by the Board to the several licensees, specifying their
requirements, have been obtained, and will be preserved for future
use. These requirements hold good in all respects excepting that of
cubic space. The Board's representative, however, did not interfere
in any way to alter the "800 feet rule" in respect of the cow sheds
in this parish. The licensees, with one or two exceptions, had not
found time to comply with the requirements of the Board, and your
Committee recommended that a reasonable period should be allowed,
wherever necessary, to enable them to carry out the alterations.
"It would be almost impossible, indeed, for the licensees to carry
out fully the "Provisions" of the Regulations with a shed full of
cows; for, to quote but one point, the flooring of nearly all the sheds
will have to be reconstructed with new materials, scarcely any of
them being at present "well paved with Stourbridge or other impervious
material, set with cement, properly bedded on concrete, with a
proper slope towards a gully-hole," which, "where practicable," is to
be "outside the shed." This highly important improvement, however,
should be carried out with the least possible delay.
"With reference to the sheds in Blechynden Mews, the licenses of
which your Vestry opposed unsuccessfully, it may be mentioned that
the Magistrates intimated to the licensees that they ought to endeavour
to obtain leases of their respective premises. Your Committee
felt strongly, and it was represented to the Bench, that it was almost
unreasonable to expect the licensees to spend large sums of money to
bring the premises into conformity with the provisions of the regulations
under a weekly tenancy, and yet the regulations must be