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12
Portsmouth.—The Medical Officer writes :—
"If possible I should advise you should prevent
any such business being established, except in a very
sparsely populated district." I visited the works at
Portsmouth. The fumes are here washed in a spray,
which seems to be very successful. Great nuisance
arises from the cartage and storage of fat, which in
this case is of a superior character, mostly coming
from the Government slaughter-houses at Gosport,
and from the ships and barracks. The General
Hospital is adjacent to the works, and the patients
have suffered great inconvenience from the smell of
the rancid fat. In certain cases vomiting has been
induced, leading to an unsuccessful termination of
the attempt to save life.
West Ham.—The Medical Officer writes :—
"The only practical nuisance arising from these works
is the smell during certain parts of the manufacturing
process." I did not visit any works.
Brentford.—The Medical Officer writes:—
"If precautions are taken against the effluvium being
allowed to escape into the outer air, except at a
sufficient height, and the works conducted in a
proper manner, they ought not to be a source of
nuisance to the neighbourhood." I have not visited
these works, but I went over to Brentford and
walked about the neighbourhood of the works, when
I found considerable effluvium. The neighbourhood
is of a very poor class, and I was informed by a
resident that sometimes the smell was " very strong."
Observations.— It seems that by diligent
inspection and stringent regulation it is possible to
avoid nuisance from the actual bone-boiling and
tallow-melting, but that the carting and storage of the
fat invariably gives rise to nuisance. The proposed
site is contiguous to that for the proposed Isolation