View report page

9
interior of their houses clean; for at present, from the dirty state of the public
ways, the poor, who live in houses let out in separate tenements, cannot be
induced to remove the dirt from the passages and stairs which is continually
being trod in by each tenant.
No accumulation of dust should be allowed to remain in the areas or back
yards of any house for a period longer than a week. In order to obtain a
thorough removal of the dust throughout the district, the contractor must be
compelled to call once a week at each house to take away the dust and house
refuse; and if any housekeeper should refuse to allow the dustman, when he
called, to take away the dust, the Board should have the power of levying a fine
upon the person so refusing, unless he can show good cause why at that particular
time he could not have the dust removed. This proceeding would not
perhaps be of such importance, if the nuisance arising from the prolonged
retention of house refuse was confined to the inmates of the particular house;
but the evil effects of decomposing animal and vegetable refuse extend to a considerable
distance, and may produce ill-health among a large number of people.
The poor localities will always be neglected by the dustmen so long as the
practice prevails among the upper class of giving them beer-money. In justice
therefore to the poor the giving of gratuities for the removal of dust should bo
discontinued. Under the terms of the present contract, the dustmen are bound
to call at every house in the district once a week and remove the house refuse;
and any inhabitant who can prove to the Board that the dustmen have not called
at his or her house once in seven days, the Board has the power of inflicting a
penalty for the negligence of the contractor. If this clause of the contract be
rigidly acted upon, complaints for the non-removal of dust will soon cease.
So far as the cleansing of the streets is concerned, London should be
regarded as one district; not that it should be managed by one Board, but that
each Board should adopt a uniform system of scavengering. Unless the daily
cleansing of the streets is carried out by each District Board, the public generally
will not derive much advantage by the activity and liberality displayed in this
matter by one or two districts only; for if the daily cleansing of the streets be
not general throughout London, the dirt of the neglected districts will be
carried by the traffic into the adjoining clean ones, and thus give to all of them
the appearance of not having been cleansed.
Only sixty-four complaints have been entered in the public complaint-book
during the past year. Some of these complaints relate to the defective state of
of the pavement, and others to stopped gullies and the neglect of scavengers.
A separate book is kept for complaints of the non-removal of dust. The complaints
concerning nuisances have been only thirty-three. If therefore nuisances
were not sought for by the Sanitary Officers of the Board, they would have
scarcely anything to do, and very little sanitary improvement would be effected.
It is well known to the Officers of the Board that the poor will seldom complain
of anything that will affect the pocket of the landlord. They are afraid to do
so, although every facility is afforded to them to make their complaints known.
Notice boards are placed in conspicuous parts of the district directing the public
where to apply; and from the numerous complaints which are daily made at the
office for the non-removal of dust, the public very well know where to obtain
redress. In order still further to facilitate the obtaining information respecting
nuisances, anonymous communications are always attended to.
The preparations which the Board has made during the last six months to
meet the probable advent of cholera among us during this year, by the appointment
of an additional Inspector, and by the flushing of several of the public
sewers, will be of great service in mitigating the ravages of those epidemic
diseases which are more or less constantly among us, even if the much dreaded