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the police are either unwilling, or do not feel that they have power in Whiteehapel
parish, to take proceedings against the offending parties, the inhabitants of the district
would be relieved from great discomfort and annoyance if the Board would
exercise its authority and prosecute each offender ; and in order to direct the public
where to make complaints respecting the smoke and all other nuisances; notice boards,
as I suggested in my first report, should be placed in conspicuous parts of the district,
giving the necessary information.
I would further direct your attention to the nnisance committed against the obelisk
in the centre of the Whitechapel High Street. This handsome and expensive
structure was erected for the purpose of affording safety to persons crossing the wide
thoroughfare in that locality ; but from the improper use which is made of the obelisk,
persons are deterred from availing themselves of the accommodation it affords.
The evil might be greatly remedied by attaching an iron railing to it, somewhat
similar to that surrounding the statue in King William Street, in the City.
In my first report, I enumerated 147 courts and bye-places in the district which
required paving, and I regret that I cannot report that many of them have been improved
since that time, now 16 months ago. Red Lion Court, Spitalfields, was
inserted by mistake in the list of badly paved courts, and I take this opportunity of
correcting the error.
It is my duty in the Annual Report, to direct the attention of the Board to the
progress made in sanitary improvements, and to the amount of work performed by
their Inspectors. It appears from Table No. 1, in the appendix, that during the
last quarter, 897 houses have been systematically visited, 958 nuisances inspected,
23 summonses taken out, and 212 notices served for the removal of nuisances. That
since the commencement of the operations of your Board, 452 dust bins have been
erected throughout the district, and orders would have been given for the erection of
many more, had there been yards to all the houses in which they could have been
placed, but in many instances the privy and water supply are in the cellar, and to
insist upon a dust bin being placed alongside the water butt, it would not only contaminate
the water, but would add to the unhealthiness of the house, by the giving
off of the offensive gases from the decomposing house refuse, and which deleterious
gases would make their way into every apartment. That nearly 5000 nuisances have
been iuspected, 171 summonses served, (166 on the North, and 5 on the South
side of the district), 42 of which were for nuisances in houses, such as offensive
privies and cesspools, and 129 for other nuisances, among which, were several summonses
for the keeping of swine. In consequence of your Inspectors experiencing
considerable difficulty in preventing the recurrence of the nuisance of the keeping of
swine, by proceeding under the provisions of the Nuisance Removal Act, (the defendants
evading the penalty by the temporary removal of the swine, until after the
hearing of the summons, and then bringing them back again to the same place,)
Mr. Coward has latterly taken out summonses against the parties under the 57
George 3rd, cap. xxix, commonly known as "Michael Augelo Taylor's Act," the
68th section of which enacts, " That no person or persons at any time, shall breed,