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140
of a rag-and-bone dealer to be ejusdem generis with the
businesses scheduled in section 3 of the Act. In November,
1887, a communication was received from the Special Purposes
and Sanitary Committee of the Board on
CONVEYANCE OF OFFENSIVE SUBSTANCES
THROUGH STREETS.
The Committee intimated that they were satisfied that
"serious nuisance does arise in the collection, and conveyance
through streets, of offensive substances, such as fish-offal, blood,
kitchen stuff, etc." They admitted, also, that the provisions of the
Nuisances Removal Acts and the Metropolis Management Act do
not enable the Local Sanitary Authorities to deal effectively with
the nuisance, and that additional legislative powers were necessary.
But before recommending the Board to take any steps for
obtaining an amendment of the law, the Committee thought it
well to ascertain the views of the several Vestries, etc. In
compliance with the request of your Vestry, I reported fully
on the subject,* my principal contention being that the nuisance
can be dealt with effectually only by regulation of the trades,
by "bye-laws entailing an adequate and a fixed penalty for
offences bye-laws made by the Board, but the
carrying out of which should be entrusted to the local sanitary
authorities." Such bye-laws, I said, "with respect to offensive
substances of animal origin, should make provision with regard
(1) to storage vessels, which should be of metal, impervious, and
covered; (2) to removal in iron tank vans, or, better still, in the
storage vessels themselves; (3) to time of daily removal; and
(4) to measures for disposal of the refuse." I added that it was
"open to consideration whether the duty of removing all offensive
substances should not be imposed upon the sanitary authority, at
the reasonable cost of the producers thereof," a course which, in
my opinion, is imperative if nuisance is to be avoided.
* Vide Annual Report for 1887, pages 176—89 (inclusive).