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Messrs. Brandram's Works.
My attention having been several times called to the fumes emanating from these works,
I wrote requesting Messrs. Brandram to use their utmost efforts to render the escape of fumes
as unfrequent as possible. I received the following reply:— "Dear Sir,—We have to
acknowledge your communication of the 31st ult. (May), and to say that everything which is
practicable shall be done at our Works to render the fumes, which are inseparable from the
manufacture of sublimated sulphur, as light as possible. You are doubtless aware that all
our neighbours have come to our Works, well knowing the nature of our business, and it would
be idle to suppose that our stoves will distribute any smells but such as are pungent, although
perfectly wholesome.— Yours faithfully, Brandram Bros.''
Messrs. Dick & Co.'s Premises.
Complaints having been made as to the nauseous and depressing fumes from these works
(oil boiling), I visited them on several occasions. I also went into some of the houses in the
vicinity of the works. There was little doubt in my mind that there were good reasons for
complaint, and that during the time of boiling the oil, the fumes coming from the " boiling
rooms " were sickening to a distressing degree. Messrs. Dick & Co. took some precautions
which were suggested by the Inspector from the then existing Metropolitan Board of Works.
They placed a pipe conveying the fumes from one of the boiling pans into the flue underneath
the boiler, by which means the noxious vapour was, as far as concerned this pan, supposed to
tbe rendered harmless. The injurious fumes complained of came almost entirely from a covered
boiling pan situate in a small room reached by a spiral staircase. I examined this place, and
suggested the following points for attention:—1st, That this room should have a louvred roof;
2nd, that a long ventilating shaft, with cowl, should be fixed to the top of this room, so as to
carry off the fumes not let out by the louvre; and 3rd, that Messrs. Dick & Co. should be
instructed to avail themselves of bright, brisk, windy weather, and avoid dull, heavy, sluggish
weather for carrying on the process of boiling. The latter suggestion Mr. Dick himself
promised to see carried out to the fullest extent; he also gave me a most positive promise
that the suggestions should be forthwith attended to, and that he would impress on the men
the necessity for choosing such weather as was most appropriate for taking away and