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175
MARINE STORES.
Every year, during the hot weather, complaints are
received in regard to stenches arising in the collection,
removal, and storage of bones, fat, and other animal matters,
in a more or less putrid condition, in connection with the
business of "marine-store dealer." Other businesses, such
as those of fishmonger, poulterer, &c., may be, and often are,
the cause of nuisance and annoyance, in connection with the
production of refuse matters of an objectionable nature;
which, useful in their proper place, are liable, when stored
or dealt with in dwelling houses, to become a source of injury
to the health of the community.
This subject was reported on by me to your Vestry in
1878, under the heading of Filth Removal, and in 1880 I
brought it before the Society of Medical Officers of Health,
who referred it to a Committee, of which I was the chairman.
The Report of the Committee embraced consideration of the
best modes of dealing with animal and vegetable trade refuse,
e.g., from slaughter-houses, fishmongers', poulterers', and
greengrocers' shops, etc., with a view to its inoffensive
storage, removal, and ultimate disposal, by utilization or
destruction. It also treated of house refuse, stable refuse,
and cowshed refuse. The Society forwarded the report to the
(late) Metropolitan Board of Works, the Vestries, the District
Boards, &c. The Report was also circulated largely among
Members of Parliament; the Society sharing my view that the
subject could not be effectually dealt with save by legislation.
For some years I had been directing attention to the question,
especially as it bore upon the nuisance arising in the conduct
of the business of the so-called "marine-storekeeper" (ragand-bone
dealer), and ultimately (in 1883) your Vestry
resolved to apply to the Metropolitan Board of Works to
schedule this business, as an "offensive business," under the
provisions of the Slaughter-houses (Metropolis) Act, 1874.
The Board declined to do this, upon the ground that the