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199
other cognate Acts," I placed my views on this subject
generally, before your Vestry. The Law and Parliamentary
Committee, to whom 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.
DISINFECTION.
During the year ending March 25th, 1892, a large number
of infected articles of clothing, bedding, &c., were satisfactorily
disinfected by the contractor at the cost of your Vestry, the
owners being too poor to bear the expense. The weight of the
articles was 19 tons 16½ cwt.,; their number 9425, and the cost
of the process £380 16s. 8d. Three hundred and sixty-four
rooms in 323 houses were disinfected with sulphurous acid by
your Vestry's officer, no charge being made for the service.
Some rooms, in addition, were disinfected by the contractor, as
well as numerous parcels of clothing, bedding &c., at the
request and the cost of the owners. The Public Health Act,
as we have already seen (page 123), imposes additional duties
on the Sanitary Authority in the matter of disinfection, the
practical effect of the legislation of late years being to throw
the entire cost of disinfecting rooms, bedding, clothing, &c.,
upon the rates.