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ratepayers in regard to stenches, especially in the early morning
hours, almost invariably supposed to be due to sewer gas. The
real cause, however, was brick-burning in localities, for the most
part, beyond the limits of the Parish. The reality of the
nuisance is not open to question, and the law is strong enough to
put a stop to it, but the process is tedious and costly, as was
proved in two important actions decided in the course of the
year 1885.
Marine Stores.—Every year, during the hot weather,
complaints are received in regard to the stenches arising from
the collection and storage of bones, fat, and other animal matters
in a putrid condition on the premises of so-called " marine store
dealers." Your Vestry, having found it difficult to prevent
recurrence of nuisance from this cause, under the Nuisances
Removal Acts, resolved, in 1883, to direct the attention of the
Metropolitan Board of Works to the subject, and to request
them to consider the desirability of declaring the business of a
" marine store dealer " an " offensive business," under the provisions
of the Slaughter-houses (Metropolis) Act, 1874, Section 3.
It was felt that if the business were scheduled under the Act,
proper construction of the premises where it is carried on, proper
impermeable receptacles for the collection, storage, and removal
of the fat, &c., and frequent, if not daily, removal of offensive
matters from the premises, might be secured.
The Board, however, did not adopt your Vestry's view of the
matter, stating in its reply that " the businesses to which the
Act of 1874 refers, are businesses which include processes oi
manufacture of a more or less offensive character;" and that " the
mere collection of a mass of refuse matter into one place " is not
a " business " within the meaning of the 3rd Section of the Act.
But among "offensive" businesses named in the Act are those
of "bone boiler," "tallow melter," and "fat extractor," the
staple articles of which are obtained largely from " rag and bone
shops." The "processes of manufacture," moreover, in melting
tallow, and in boiling bones or hog wash to extract fat, are not
very obvious; and, it must be added, the bye-laws for the