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14
brick, and the upper of wood. Each chamber is surmounted by
chimney about four feet in height. These measures are all give
approximately.
On the floor of each compartment a smouldering smoky fire fe???
with oak sawdust is kept burning, and the fish to be smoke
(haddocks and herrings) are suspended in rows across the chamber
The place has been visited six times by me; and the process of fig
smoking was each time in full operation. I never could perceiv
any smell on or about the premises (except the smell from the fish i
stock), and complaint of nuisance has never been made by any othe
person but Mrs. Moody. However, it may be, that the smo???
arising from the low chimneys may cause annoyance by drifting wi???
certain winds against the windows of the adjacent houses.
smokehouse in every respect similar to the one above-describee???
exists at Mr. R. Challoner’s, fishmonger, No. 351, Rotherhithe-wal???
and has never been complained of.
Twelve applications have been made for licenses for slaughter
houses. Eleven of these had been already licensed. The slaughter
house of Mr. Newham, butcher, Rotherhithe-street, is in the cours???
of erection at the back of his house, and having seen the plans a???
examined the drainage, I should submit to the Board, that a licens???
be granted to him, as well as to the eleven others.
The Government order with regard to the vaults under St???
Mary's Church is now being carried out, under the surveillance o???
the Churchwardens and Medical Officer of Health. As this subjec???
will be again brought under notice of the Vestry, I need only say a
present, that hitherto the work has proceeded without accident, and
has been conducted with decorum and propriety.
The owners of the piggeries near the Railway Arches were
respectively summoned to Greenwich, and the magistrate’s order wa???
obtained for an abatement of the nuisance. No cleanliness car
ever prevent places tenanted by thirty or forty hogs, and badly
drained, from exhaling unpleasant smells during the summer months
I give this as my own opinion, and must leave to the Board to take
what further steps they may think necessary.
Notices have been served in the other cases mentioned in the
Agenda Paper.
Twenty-one persons died in Rotherhithe during September, about
half the number usually registered in a month, and the smallest
monthly mortality yet reported by me since the first formation
of this Vestry. The Parish of Rotherhithe is at present remarkably
healthy and free from epidemic disease. (30th of September, 1859.)
Yours respectfully,
October, 1859. W. MURDOCH.