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102
"With a view, apparently, to proper cleansing by flushing, Provision 8
of the Regulations requires the water-tank to be 'so placed that the bottom
thereof shall be not less than six feet above the floor level.' It requires
further that the tank shall be 'provided with piping for conveying the water
to the cow-shed; 'while Provision 9 requires piping to be laid on to the
trough or manger. At some of the sheds the cistern is much lower than the
prescribed level. In nearly all the sheds piping is laid on to the sheds and
to the troughs, but in some cases the supply-pipe of the trough was found
defective, in others it appeared to be not used. In more than one instance
the trough was improperly constructed, in part, of wood, instead of being
wholly formed of, or covered by impervious material.
"The grain-pit is required to be 'properly drained,' but in many sheds
the (bell) trap is so placed as that it must either get choked or be dry; and
in the latter case instead of carrying off liquid it would admit foul air from
the main drain and sewer. In some instances the dung-pit adjoins the grainpit,
and where the party-wall is not effectually lined on either side with
cement there is danger of percolation from one to the other. Some of the
dung-pits are not drained, and at several sheds there is no properly constructed
dung-pit; at others, again, no properly constructed grain-pit. In
several sheds the grain-pit communicates directly with the shed, contrary to
Provision 6 of the Regulations."
Cowshed Refuse.— Speaking generally, it must be acknowledged
that the cowsheds are better kept than they formerly were ;
more care and punctuality, however, are required in removing the
manure through the streets, the vehicles used being unfit for the
purpose, and giving rise to effluvium nuisance in transitu. This
subject is further dealt with at page 114 in a report thereon by the
Society of Medical Officers of Health.
Licensing Day.— Prior to the licensing day a copy of the
Committee's Report was forwarded to each of the Magistrates of
the Kensington Division. All the licenses were renewed, only one
license being opposed by inhabitants in the locality, on the ground
of nuisance; but some of the Magistrates having inspected the
shed granted the license, the proprietor having promised to do
everything in his power to prevent annoyance to his neighbours.
The licensing day was marked, nevertheless, by important incidents
deserving of notice in this place. In Special Reports on the cowsheds
in 1879, your Vestry's Works, Sanitary, and General
Purposes Committee entered fully into the question of cubic or
"air space," and while expressing regret that the local authority