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supervision; and, with due submission to this Board, I can see
no objection to a renewal of the licenses.
Two other butchers, besides the eleven above-mentioned, have
made application for licenses, viz., Mr. Adams, of Lower Yorkstreet,
and Mr. Austin, of Rotherhithe-wall; the slaughterhouse
of the former being at the back of his dwelling, that of
the latter in Seven-step-alley. Both these places are clean,
stone-paved, with good water supply, ventilation, and apparatus,
and the neighbourhood round them is not overcrowded. I beg,
therefore, to recommend them to the favour of the Vestry.
There are no underground slaughter-houses in Rotherhithe.
The numerous houses, mentioned in the Agenda Paper, either
have full cesspools connected with them, or their drainage is
imperfect. The following, however, deserve particular mention.
At No. 8,'Swan-lane, there is no privy accommodation whatever;
the inmates of the house are obliged to use the closet of
a neighbour. At the White Cottage in Adam's-gardens, the
privy is in a miserably filthy and dilapidated state; and, as
there is no drain on the premises, all the slops are thrown into
the open road.
At Nos. 1, 2, and 3, Ivy-place, the cesspools are full, and
the people complain of the scantiness of the water supply, a
complaint which I am often obliged to hear in various parts of
upper Rotherhithe. The Southwark and Vauxhall Company
will, undoubtedly, have to make extensive alterations to meet
the growing wants of an increasing population.
The water-closets of each of the tenements 4 and 5, Paradiseplace,
is a sort of cupboard, situated at the top of the house. A
cistern is supposed to supply each closet, but as the cistern
itself only receives the rain which runs from the roof, the water
supply is desultory and irregular. The pipe also conveying
the solid and liquid matter down to a drain under the flooring
of the houses is leaky, and the lower part of the houses, more
especially of No. 4, is often covered with liquid sewage, and
smells abominably. The remedy for such a state of things
would be either to put a trap and pan to the present closets and
carry to the cisterns a proper and regular supply of water, or
better still, to build new water-closets on some part of the
premises.
At the back of the yards of the houses, from 4 to 11, Westlane,
there is an alley or passage between the yards and the
neighbouring mill-stream. This alley is a receptacle for all sorts
of offal, and is often in a most digusting state. The Inspector
and myself have often visited the spot, and always found it
in the same condition. The houses from 4 to 11, West-lane,
c