London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Kensington 1887

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]

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196
with all costs. The same power should be conferred upon
Courts of Summary Jurisdiction in London.† At present the
Justices can punish for contempt of Court only, viz., by a
penalty not exceeding ten shillings per diem, during continuance
of disobedience to their Order. If the Justices had power
to inflict a penalty for offences under the Nuisances Removal
Acts, disregard of the Local Authority's Notice, which implies
continuance of nuisance, with consequent injury to health, to
say nothing of the trouble and loss of time imposed upon
officers, would be infrequent—always supposing the power were
exercised. That the cases are proper to be brought before the
Justices is obvious from the fact that dismissal of a summons is
a rare occurrence.
SLAUGHTER-HOUSES.
The licensed slaughter-houses, which in 1874 were 54 in
number, are now only 22, viz., 13 in North Kensington (i.e.,
the district north of l/xbridge Road), and 9 in South Kensington
{i.e., the remainder of the parish south of Uxbridge Road).
The names of the licensees, and the localities of the licensed
premises, are set out in Table XI. (Appendix). The several
premises were inspected, in July, by the Works, Sanitary, and
General Purposes Committee, who found them to be in a satisfactory
condition. Comparatively little slaughtering is now
carried on, and on some of the premises none at all, the licences
being kept up apparently with the view of maintaining the value
of the premises. Wherever animals were found in the lairs,
it was observed that, in accordance with a recommendation by
the Committee, a supply of water had been provided. Altogether,
the state of affairs has undergone much improvement
since the passing of the Slaughter-houses (Metropolis) Act,
† Provision was made for enabling the Justices to inflict a penalty in the
Pablic Health (Metropolis) Bill, 1885, but there was not time to pass the
measure, which hitherto has not been re-introduced.