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The Mortuary. 111. Only one body was removed to the Mortuary
during the year.
Rag and Bone Shops. 112. These have been frequently visited, and
the Inspectors report that they find no difficulty in carrying out the
Regulations. The owners are willing to do all that is practicable in
keeping their shops clean and wholesome; and they are certainly in a
much improved condition.
Cow Sheds. 113. These have been kept in as fair condition as can
be expected, from the structure of the various sheds.
Slaughter Houses. 114. The amount of slaughtering in
the District has much diminished, Some butchers retain the license
without using the slaughter-house. In the Kenton Street slaughterhouse,
for example, nothing has been killed this year. Whilst this
Report is in hand, a Special Committee of the House of Commons is
engaged in considering a Bill brought into the House of Commons by
Dr. Brewer, for repealing the 55th and following sections of the Metropolitan
Buildings Act, 1844, by virtue of which private slaughtering
will be interdicted in London next year. It is to be hoped that the
Special Committee will report decisively against the Bill, and will recommend
that public abattoirs be provided. I have already reported at
length to your Board upon this important subject, and will not prolong
this Report by recapitulating the arguments then submitted. It would
be most desirable if the powers of the Act above referred to could be
applied to the abolition of ill-kept Cowhouses also. This is a subject
that will have to be considered when the time arrives.
Condemned Houses. 115. My last Annual Report contained a statement
of the fact that the houses in Coram Place and Russell Place, Little
Coram Street, had been certified to be unfit for human habitation.
Your Board therefore took the necessary measures for their demolition.
One of the owners, appealed against your decision, and his appeal was
heard before the Justices, at the Westminster Guildhall, on the 24th
July. The Justices confirmed the order of your Board, and all the
houses have been since pulled down. This was the first appeal that
had been heard under the "Artizans' and Labourers' Dwellings Act,
1868," and the result shows that the Act may be successfully worked in
the metropolis.
The measures for giving effect to the same Act, in relation to the
houses in Church Lane, are still in progress.
Underground Rooms. 116. There has been a large clearance of
underground rooms and cellars, illegally occupied, during the year;
and at the time of writing this Report there are none so occupied, except
in the case of a small number, in which there is some doubt as to the
violation of the Act of Parliament. Summonses were taken out in the
month of January against two landlords, for re-letting their underground
rooms after they had been vacated, and I am pleased to say that one of
them was fined £l 16s., as a persistent offender, and the other 8s.
Houses unfit for Occupation. 117. Proceedings were also taken under
the 13th section of the Diseases Prevention and Nuisances Removal
Act, 1855, against the occupier of the house No. 20, Great Wild
Street, which was in an exceedingly dirty and dilapidated condition,
with the view of prohibiting the occupation of the house. Mr. Flowers
issued an order of prohibition, and, after some delay, the occupier left
the house, but kept the door locked. The order to enter upon the premises
was then sought, as the Act directs, but Mr. Flowers was of
opinion that he could not make such an order, as the Act gave no power