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remove such refuse as old boots and shoes, old coal scuttles, tin
canisters, etc. The latter decision is a strange one, for it is
hardly likely that a bootmaker would have " old hoots and shoes "
on his premises, or an ironmonger " old coal scuttles and tin
canisters," requiring removal as " trade refuse," and such articles
in a private house would not come under the description " refuse
of trade, manufacture, or business," but might rather be regarded
as "rubbish" which the Nuisance Authority is required (by
section 125) to collect and remove. In a case tried at a police
court the magistrate decided that paper and miscellaneous
matters, the sweepings of a theatre, did not constitute " trade
refuse," and the District Board was required to remove the
collection without payment, presumably as " dirt or rubbish."
It has already been shown that, although there is no obligation
on the part of the tradesman to have his "refuse " removed
by the scavenger, the Yestry (as "scavenger") may be " required,"
by the owner or occupier, to remove the refuse—a somewhat onesided
arrangement. In the interests of public health it were to
be desired that the producer of trade refuse of an offensive sort
should be compelled to employ the services of the public
scavenger for its removal. But, at present, it is exactly the
offensive refuse that the Vestry are not called upon or expected
to remove—viz., that produced by butchers, fishmongers, friedfish
dealers, poulterers, &c., who pay substantial sums for the
removal of their refuse, which is effected, not seldom, in a
manner calculated to give rise to nuisance. Greengrocers' refuse
has been largely removed by the dustmen with the " ashes."
One main reason for the difficulty experienced by the Inspectors
in the effort to make arrangements with tradesmen arose out of
" difference of opinion " as to what should be considered " refuse,"
the Justices moreover, in a disputed case, having decided that
what the Surveyor considered " trade refuse " should be deemed
dirt or rubbish, and as such removed without cost to the occupier.
I felt it to be undesirable that the time of the Inspectors
should be diverted from their proper duties to work of the