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142
polis Local Management Act referred to) would apply in the
case of trades which lead to 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
the owner, of all such " refuse " matters, of animal and vegetable
origin, as may become, if left 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 County Council and the Sanitary
Authority to make bye-laws, being, I fear, insufficient for the
prevention of nuisance. The question may be settled when
the bye-laws come into operation.
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