View report page

37
Removal of offensive matter. — The Vestry
applied to the Queen's Bench Division for a rule
for a mandamus to the Magistrate at the Clerkenwell
Police Court to hear and determine a summons
by them against Messrs. Cook & Co., soap manufacturers,
for an offence against one of the bye-law?
of the London County Council prohibiting the
carrying of foul matter through the streets of the
Metropolis except within certain hours. On the
hearing of the summons on November 2nd, it was
represented to the learned magistrate that the byelaw
had been enacted without any consultation
with the trade, and that, as they objected to this
one on the ground that it was practically inconvenient,
Messrs. Cook & Co. were about to petition
the Council for some extension of the hours or some
modification of the bye-law. Upon this the magistrate
adjourned the summons sine die, with leave
to the parties to apply for the further hearing in
order to afford him the opportunity of seeing what
the Council might do, in order to guide him in the
course he should take. The Yestry objected to the
adjournment as, in the meantime, the foul matter
was being carried through the streets at all hours,
and the bye-law was thus defeated; and hence the
application, in answer to which the magistrate
made an affidavit stating the reasons for the
course he had taken. The case was heard on the
27th January.
Mr. Bodkin appeared to show cause against the
application, contending that the course taken was
warranted by section 16 of the Summary Jurisdiction
Act, 1879, and was very convenient. [Mr.
Justice Day said he thought it was very reasonable
and convenient to obviate the necessity for repeated
applications for a hearing].
Mr. Spokes, on the part of the Yestry, urged in