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that " every portion of a vessel that has come in contact with cattle 01* their
droppings must be scraped, scrubbed and lime washed," it would be reasonable
to expect these operations carried out within 72 hours of the discharging
of last ox, or on arrival in dock, whichever occurred last.
The nuisance caused by the discharging of cattle dung in a crowded dosk
is serious, and can only be prevented by having the removal effected in the
lower reaches of the river. The detention before entering dock would be
viewed, it is reasonable to fear, as a hindrance to trade and could not be
•enforced.
The owners of one line of cattle steamers recognising the advantages of having
their vessels cleared of dung before opening their cargo hatches, made arrangements
in 1889 to allow their steamers to lay " silent" for 24 hours after
arrival in dock. The plan worked very well, and the work of cleansing was
-carried out quickly and well.
A plentiful supply of water and a free use of hose are absolutely necessary
for the satisfactory washing down of cattle spaces, but these essentials are
impracticable with open cargo hatches and barges alongside containing
valuable and easily-damaged cargo.
As most of the vessels containing cgttle also bring dressed beef, this custom
of a " silent " 21 hours could never be made general. Let it be supposed that
a cattle steamer arrives in the Victoria Dock on a Friday with 500 quarters
of beef in her refrigerating chamber and her supply of ice exhausted.
The consignee of the beef in his anxiety to save a good market on Saturday
morning, and to avoid the expense of procuring more ice, would apply for
immediate delivery, and in this way it would be impossible to enforce generally
what one owner had voluntarily adopted.
The nuisance caused by dung from cattle steamers in dock is of course
greatest when the dung is being discharged into the lighters, and any repetition
of turning over the manure, as from barge to barge, means a recurrence of the
evil. This transhipping in dock is done when a barge shows signs of sinking
or when a contractor has two half-loaded barges and desires to despatch one
to her destination.
The Surveyor of Her Majesty's Customs in the Victoria Dock has recently
issued orders that this is not to be done in future without his consent, for he
sees that if practised to any extent a road is opened for fraud, and the dung
that is thrown overboard at the " Nore" may not be the dung that should
have been disposed of in this manner.
There is good ground for believing that seven days' detention in dock from
the date of loading is the average for dung barges, and if this is the case it
then appears that nine barges of manure are always lying in the Victoria and