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unsanitary condition of some public house urinals, arising from
want of water supply and from the employment of bell traps
to the drains. The Committee thereupon instructed the Sanitary
Inspectors to make a report upon the subject generally
showing the accommodation provided at the several public
houses and beershops, and the situation of the urinals, &c.
The Inspectors' reports were duly considered, and the recommendations
having been approved by your Vestry, notices were
served to provide a water supply and to trap the drain with an
approved stoneware gully trap wherever necessary. These
notices were complied with in nearly every case. The
public houses and beer-houses in the parish number about
170, and with few exceptions they possess the necessary
accommodation in some more or less satisfactory form. In the
majority of cases the urinal is semi-public, i.e., accessible to
passers-by; in others it is in a more or less private situation,
either within the house or in a yard. An effort was made to
get these more private urinals replaced by others accessible to
the public, but without effect. A very few public houses, as
intimated, have no urinal at all. The question of the liability
of the proprietors to provide such accommodation was referred
by your Vestry to the Law and Parliamentary Committee, from
the tenour of whose report it may be inferred that there is no
statutory obligation. The Committee advised that the attention
of the Justices should be called to these cases, believing
that they would exercise their unquestioned influence—at the
period of the licensing sessions—to secure provision of accommodation
necessary alike in the interests of decency and of
public health.
The following letter was addressed to the Chairman,
together with a copy of the Inspectors' Reports:—
" Sir,—I am directed by the Yestry of Kensington to forward to
you for the information of the Justices of the Peace for the Kensington
Division, copy of a return made by the several Sanitary Inspectors
showing the urinal accommodation provided at the several public
houses and beershops within the parish."