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sufficient size and well ventilated. 5thly, That it should not form any part of a
dwelling house; and 6thly. That it should contain proper covered receptacles for the
manure, and other offensive matter, until such could be removed.
Each of your committees having been provided with a copy of the above regulations
inspected in rotation, (accompanied by the Medical Officer of Health, and an
Inspector of Nuisances), the several slaughter-houses in the district, and in every
instance insisted upon the occupier observing those sanitary rules which the Board
had sanctioned. Forty of the applicants readily complied with the directions of
your committees, and they obtained their licenses at the Quarter Sessions. Three
of those who sent in notice to your Board, were in the City of London, and consequently
not within the jurisdiction of your Board. The premises of seven were
considered by your committees to be unfit for the purpose of slaughter-houses, and
intimation was given to the owners that their license would be opposed. In three of
these instances, the application was withdrawn, while in the other four, your opposition
at the Quarter Sessions was successful, and the licenses were refused.
Your Board, therefore, having succeeded in inducing all licensed slaughterers of
cattle in your district to make such alterations in their premises as were considered
necessary for the public health, it is highly expedient that your Inspector of Nuisances
should periodically inspect (once a fortnight, at least), all the slaughter-houses in the
district, to see if the sanitary regulations you enforced are properly observed. It
would also be desirable that they should ascertain, if possible, whether animals are
slaughtered in unlicensed places, and if such irregularity be found to exist, the law
should be put in force against the offending parties, who, if convicted, are liable to
the penalty of £5 for each offence.
Owing to the vigilance of the Inspectors of Markets in the City of Loudon, the
sale of unwholesome meat is to a great extent prevented there ; but I have reason to
believe that much of the unwholesome meat which is sent into London, is consumed
by the poor in this and the surrounding districts, to the great detriment of the public
health.
Among the causes of ill health enumerated in my former report, mention is
made of cow-sheds. Cows cannot be kept in London without occasioning more or
less nuisance to persons living in their immediate vicinity. The smell arising from
the manure, urine, brewers' grains, and distillers' wash, is very offensive and injurious
to the public health. In some places, cows are confined in cellars, where, for want
of efficient ventilation, the animals breathe an atmosphere charged with gases evolved
from decomposed urine and other offensive matters. This must necessarily produce
an injurious effect upon their health, and as a consequence, deteriorate the quality of
the milk, either by diminishing the amount of nutritive properties it ought to contain,
or occasioning it to be charged with diseased products.
If it has been found necessary for the health of the people that slaughter-houses
should be annually licensed, in order to enforce the observance of sanitary regulations
in them, it is equally, and perhaps more important, for the benefit of the public health,
that all cow-sheds in London should be in like manner licensed, the granting of which
license might be opposed by the Local Board, unless proper sanitary regulations were
observed in them. It would, however, be much more desirable to prohibit altogether
the keeping of cows in densely populated cities and towns.
Since the date of my last report, two persons who had carried on the businesses
of bone boiling and grease making, have left the district, one from Speck's-buildings,
Samuel-street, the other from George-yard, Whitechapel; and a manufacturer who