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195
the production of 'refuse' of an offensive character." This
subject was fully dealt with in the said Report, and also in
my Annual Report for 1887 (pages 176-189), of which a copy
was forwarded to every member of the London County
Council in 1889. Beyond question the Sanitary Authority
should undertake the removal, at the cost of owner, of all
such "refuse" matters, of animal and vegetable origin, as
may become, if kept too long on the premises, injurious to
health; and in the interests of public health, moreover, the
producer of trade refuse of an offensive sort, should be compelled
to employ the services of the Sanitary Authority for
its removal. But it is precisely the refuse of an offensive
character that the Sanitary Authority are not called upon or
expected to remove—viz., that produced by butchers, fishmongers,
fried fish dealers, poulterers, &c., who pay substantial
sums for the service, which is conducted, not seldom, in
an objectionable manner. The subject is dealt with in the
Public Health Act (section 16) but not in an adequate manner,
the powers conferred on the Count)- Council and the
Sanitary Authority to make bye-laws, being quite insufficient
for the prevention of nuisance (vide page 117).
STABLE REFUSE.
In many of my Annual Reports mention has been made
of the frequency of complaints in regard to accumulations of
stable manure, as "the most common of recurring nuisances
with which the Sanitary Inspectors have to deal." Your
Vestry many years ago exercised the powers conferred
by section 53 of the Sanitary Act, 1866, by giving public
notice for "the periodical removal of manure or other refuse
matter from mews, stables," &c.; the regulations requiring
such removal to be effected on "alternate days," the penalty
for default being "twenty shillings per day for every day
during which such manure or other refuse matter shall be
permitted to accumulate." The non-removal is sometimes