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210
ladders over the railings. In some cases where there were
steps householders have been known to refuse to allow the gate
to be unlocked, thus wilfully endangering the safety of the
unfortunate dustmen, more than one of whom have been
impaled on the spikes of area railings. Such an accident
cannot happen again, your Vestry having issued instructions,
upon the recommendation of the "Wharves and Plant Committee,
forbidding the use of ladders, and requiring that access
be given to the dust-bin through the house when necessary.
A constantly increasing difficulty is experienced in finding
convenient, i.e., accessible, " shoots " for house refuse ; to the
deposit of which within their boundaries the Sanitary Authorities
of contiguous districts naturally object. The refuse,
moreover, has little value now that building operations are
being prosecuted upon so limited a scale in, or within easy
distance cf, the Parish, and other districts being able to supply
the brickmakers' wants. Your Yestry have appointed a Committee,
now sitting, to consider as to the practicability of
conveying the refuse to the country, for agricultural purposes
and other methods of utilization. The result of the Committee's
enquiry is awaited with much interest.
[The Report of the Select Committee was considered by the
Vestry at a Special Meeting, held July 18th, 1888. The Committee
recommended purchase of fifteen acres of land, on the
river at Purfleet in Essex, sixteen miles below London Bridge,
for a Depot, with a view to the conveyance thereto of the whole
of the refuse of the Parish—unsorted " dust" and " slop "—from
the Wharf at Chelsea on the river, and from the W harf at
Kensal Green on the Grand Junction Canal. The Vestry
adopted the recommendation, and instructed the Select Committee
to " consider and report as to the necessary works to be
executed for utilizing the land to the fullest advantage for the
purpose of a Refuse and Store Depot." Upon sanitary grounds
the Vestry's decision is matter for unmixed satisfaction.]