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service of closets. For cleansing and white-washing houses there
were made 22 orders; for the repair of defective roofs of houses, &c.
12 orders; ditto of privies, 3 orders; for the provision or repair
of dustbins 11 orders; for cleansing repairing, or trapping drains,
10 orders; for abolishing the waste pipe in a cistern, one order. In
several instances further proceedings had to be taken on account
of the parties' failure to comply with the Justices' orders.
In some of these the Justices dealt very leniently with the disobedience,
but in a few cases they inflicted substantial penalties.
For offences under the Slaughter Houses Bye Laws, there were
two convictions, a penalty of £3 and costs being inflicted in each
case. For allowing offensive accummulations of manure contrary
to your Vestry's regulations for the periodical removal of the same,
an order for removal, and the payment of one shilling costs was
made in two instances.
THE LICENSED SLAUGHTER-HOUSES.
The licensed slaughter-houses are 29 in number, viz., 20 north
and 9 south of Uxbridge Road (Vide Table XI, Appendix, for
localities of premises and names of licensees).
The several premises were carefully inspected by several members
of your Vestry, at whose request I submitted a Special Report in
July (No. 8, page 37). On the whole there has been a very considerable
improvement in the condition of the Slaughter-houses
within the last few years, and I suppose it is now about as satisfactory
as we can expect it to be, seeing that with one or two
exceptions the premises were not constructed for the purpose to
which they are applied, and that the localities are mostly unsuitable
for carrying on the business. The day when London will be
provided with public abattoirs, such as are to be found in several
provincial cities, seems to be as distant as ever, having been
indefintiely postponed by the compromise involved in the passing of
the Slaughter-houses (Metropolis) Act, 1874. From time to time,
since that event, material improvements have been effected at the
instance of the Local Authority (Metropolitan Board of Works)
on representations which were made by your Vestry. In 1878 the
attention of the Board was directed to the unsatisfactory character
of the traps used in slaughter-houses for trapping the drains,—