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166
with a view to consideration of steps for dealing with the matter,
thoroughly and effectually; as, in 1888, nuisances in connection
with public-house urinals were dealt with.
It may be mentioned that the "nuisance authority" (the
Vestry) have power to contract with the occupiers of stables
and cow-houses for the collection and removal of manure or other
refuse matter from such stables and cow-houses. But at present
the nuisance authority can remove it only "with the sanction of
the owner." The necessary sanction would be forthcoming,
probably, in most cases, once it came to be known that, otherwise,
the requirements of the law would be enforced, in case of neglect
on the part of the owner to comply with the regulations.
In many, if not in the majority of cases, trifling sums are
now paid by the owners for the removal of the refuse, and I see
no reason why they should not be required to pay to the local
authority a small fee for the service. At the same time it is
probable that the large amount of refuse produced in the 177
mews in this parish would have an aggregate value sufficient to
pay the cost of a well-organized system of collection and removal
to the country.
In my special report (March '25th, 1885) on "Sanitary,
Nuisances Removal, and other cognate Acts," I placed my views
as above, before your Vestry. The Law and Parliamentary
Committee, to which the report was referred, recognized "the
necessity for making proper arrangements for the removal of
manure and other refuse matter," but stated that "the Vestry
had not depot accommodation or staff or plant adequate to cope
with so large a work." For this reason, they considered that the
Vestry was not then "in a position to contract generally for
the removal of manure and other refuse matter." The circumstances
are now different, your Vestry having an admirable depot
at Purfleet, to which the manure could be conveyed from the
river and canal-side wharves, and where it would probably command
a ready sale at a remunerative price for use on the land;