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204
STABLE REFUSE.
For several years I have felt it my duty to draw your Vestry's
attention to the removal, or rather to the noji-removal, of stable
refuse. A "Notice" has been framed and published enjoining
"periodical removal of manure, etc.," by the owners, under the
provisions of Section 53 of the Sanitary Act, 1866, which prescribes
a penalty of twenty shillings a day for default; nevertheless
the most frequent cause of complaint by parishioners, and the
most frequent of recurring nuisances, arises from the neglect of
this obligation. Proceedings have been taken occasionally to
enforce the provision of the section, but not with uniform success,
the offenders having usually been able to satisfy the Justices of their
inability to perform the duty required of them. The difficulty not
seldom originates with the coachman, who will not give the refuse
away, while the farmer or his carter will not pay for it. At certain
seasons, e.g., hay-making time and harvest, there is, no doubt,
a difficulty in getting the receptacles cleared, farmers being too
busy to send their carts into town, or, when tliey do, to allow
them to stay to collect the refuse. The refuse, nevertheless, has
value, if it could only be got on to the land without undue cost.
The quantity made in this large parish, with its 150 mews, is very
great, and of an aggregate value, probably, more than sufficient to
pay for its collection and removal from London. It is a question
whether your Vestry should not undertake such collection and removal,
as the law allows, "with the sanction of the owner?"
The necessary sanction would often be cheerfully given, and
probably it would not be difficult to obtain in the great majority
of cases, were it understood that the requirements of the law would
be enforced. The published notice requires that the manure
should be removed "every alternate day," but twice a week in
summer, and once a week in winter, would probably suffice for
all practical requirements, in ordinary cases, if the manure were
stored above ground in properly constructed receptacles.
NECESSARY ACCOMMODATION.
There are only twelve public urinals in this great Parish, a very
inadequate number, and no public water closets save at the rear of