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13
let the hot vapour come in contact with them. In twenty minutes
they are, to use the expression of the foreman, cooked. They are
then taken out, and placed in the press, which being properly set
in action, sixty or seventy per cent. of the weight of the fish runs
in the liquid state into the tank below, the fluid remaining in the
copper from the steaming, is then drawn and mixed with the
contents of the tank. All the liquid matter is then packed into
large casks, and is ready for use. Of its ulterior destination I can
say nothing.
The nuisance arises, first, from the accumulation of fish about
the premises. Second, from the action of steaming. The vapour,
during the process, filling the factory, and extending therefrom
into the surrounding atmosphere, and being carried by the winds
to a considerable distance. The inhabitants in the neighbourhood
of the Plough Bridge complain bitterly of this horrible nuisance,
and declare that their health is thereby injured. A notice was
served on the occupier of the premises, and was followed by a
summons. The case was heard on Saturday, 3rd of November,
and adjourned until the 21st.
On the same day Mr. Salmon appeared to a summons taken out
against him for a nuisance occasioned by the accumulation of putrid
organic matter under some arches of the Brighton Railway. Upon
this case being called on, Mr. Sleigh, who attended for Mr.
Salmon, objected, under the 28th Section of the Nuisances Removal
Act, to the jurisdiction of the magistrate. That section provides
that the party complained against shall be at liberty to object, upon
entering into recognizances, to try at law or equity by indictment
the subject complaincd of, whereupon the summons was adjourned
till Tuesday, the 13th inst., upon the defendant's own
recognizance. On the 13th he is to be prepared with two
sufficient sureties.
The greater part of the dust heap by the Plough Bridge has
been sifted, and the ashes are being gradually removed. No fresh
offal has been carted to the heap since the last monthly meeting.
The Report of the Gas Inquiry Committee has been submitted
to this Board. The necessity for the inquiry was clearly manifested
by the state of the gas on the evening of the 25th October
and during the night immediately following. The offensive stench
exhaled during its combustion having caused much inconvenience
to the gas-burning portion of the inhabitants of Rotherhithe. The
gas contained on that evening a considerable quantity of sulphuretted
hydrogen and hydrosulphate of ammonia.
On the next day, 26th October, I visited the gas-works and