sanitary orders are issued. The definition may fairly comprise such nuisances as follows: Leaky roofs. General repair of a dwelling. Dampness of the walls or basement of the dwelling. Nuisances from bad paving of yards. Nuisances so frequently arising in dwellings in towns that are not detached, of the products of combustion of the neighbouring chimney leaking through defective flues into the adjoining livingroom of either the same or the adjoining house. Old rat runs. Foundations saturated with filth. Nuisances connected with the water supply, that is (a) absence; (b) polluted; (c) improper connection with the closet. Nuisances from defective fittings of sinks or closets. Nuisances from want of ventilation, and a number of others. 2. Nuisance from drains, cesspits, aud the like.—In this category the fact only has to be proved, and whether, for example, a drain (see House Drains, pp. 183-188) or a cesspit is proper or improper, a nuisance or not, is entirely a question of fact, which the Medical Officer of Health is the proper person to decide. 3. Any animal so kept as to be a nuisance or injurious to health.The reader is referred to the special sections treating of pigkeeping, of stables, of cow-keeping, &c. 4. Deposits -Under this subsection manure heaps and offensive deposits generally can be dealt with, but it is necessary to look carefully at the exception in the latter part of Section 91, viz., that no penalty is to be imposed on any person in respect of any accumulation or deposit necessary for the effectual carrying on any business or manufacture, if it be proved to the satisfaction of the Court that the accumulation or deposit has not been kept longer than is necessary for the purposes of the business or manufacture, and that the best available means have been taken for preventing injury thereby to the public health. As an example of the kind of cases which may arise, a magisterial decision may be cited with reference to a deposit of manure at a manure merchant's premises in Chelsea.1 The defence was that 1 Public Health, vol. ii. 124. the defendant, being a manure merchant, and that his business not being scheduled as an "offensive trade," could not be interfered with by the vestry, because at that particular season of the year, owing to the occupation of farmers, and the difficulty of obtaining barges, there had been a larger and longer accumulation of manure than ordinary. The magistrate (Mr. D'Eyncourt), in the course of an exhaustive judgment, reviewed the facts, and said it was proved that the accumulation of manure on the wharf was from 180 to 200 cubic yards in extent. This was within ninety yards of houses. There was a difference of opinion between the medical experts who had given evidence in the case, but he had come to the conclusion that the heap of manure was a nuisance, and its actual removal must be very offensive. It might be true, to some extent, that the trade could not be carried on unless the practice of the defendant was allowed, but with that he had nothing to do; and he accordingly made an order with costs for the abatement of the nuisance. In dealing with such deposits as the above in connection. with a business, there will be mainly two things for the officer of a sanitary authority to consider, viz., whether the accumulation or deposit is kept longer than necessary, and whether the best available means have been adopted to prevent any injury to the public during its retention. All this is a question of fact, and each particular case must be dealt with on its merits. 5. Overcrowding-In dealing with overcrowding, the Medical Officer of Health has not to depend entirely upon his own judgment, but rather to follow precedent. The amount of cubic space allowed by the Local Government Board in various regulations as to houses let in lodgings, is 400 cubic feet each person for rooms occupied day and night, and 300 cubic feet for each person for rooms legitimately occupied as sleeping-rooms only, two children under twelve counting as one adult. It requires very good ventilation for this space to be really enough-in badly ventilated rooms the space is not sufficient and the rule of allowing two children to count as one adult is a mistake, the quick respiration of the young making up for chest capacity, besides which, in the case of very young children, the rule is that all excreta is passed in the room, and there is thus an additional defilement of the atmosphere. The interpretation of the old Acts1 was that the overcrowding must be by two different families, but the words, "whether or not members of the same family" were added to the Public Health Act (they are not in corresponding clause of Sanitary Act of 1866), to clear up any difficulty of interpretation. 6. Factories, &c.-The Factory and Bakeshop Acts are so comprehensive that little or no use has been made of this subsection. 7 and 8. The Smoke Clauses.-There are several things to be considered here. In the first place it is evident that any kind of engine, such for example, as a steam-engine working a dynamo, although not in a factory, but on strictly private premises, comes under the subsection, although probably in a legal case, the barrister for the defence would argue that the disjunctive, "or any manufacturing or trade process whatsoever," governed the section, and that the section was only applicable to a trade process, and not to a person manufacturing his own electricity for the supply of his own house. The author is, however, decidedly of opinion that the words, "which is used for working engines by steam," should be taken in their natural meaning. In the second place, it is enacted that the chimney of any but a private dwelling-house, sending forth black smoke in such quantity as to be a nuisance, can be dealt with under the section. There may be easily cases arise rendering it difficult to determine whether a chimney is that of a private dwelling or not. The cases which will present difficulty will be those in which a manufacturing operation is carried on in a house used in part as a residence, or in a shed or annex to a private house. Here again it will be mainly a question of fact for the magistrate to determine. The smoke under this subsection must be "black," and in appreciable quantity. If the offender should by means of a steam-blower, or other means, turn the vapour into white smoke, or in some way colour the smoke, it is obvious the section does not apply, even though the nuisance may be aggravated by such means, as indeed has happened in the author's own experience. Lastly, in all these cases it will be absolutely necessary, if legal action be contemplated to enforce an order of the sanitary authority, to prove by expert evidence that the fireplace or furnace is not of 1 That is, N. Rem. Act, 1855, and Sanitary Act, 1866, still in force in the metropolis. the best construction, or that known appliances have not been made use of to consume the smoke or to prevent its emanation. (177) Offensive businesses specifically mentioned in the Public Health and Sanitary Acts. Certain classes of trades which produce offensive effiuvia are specifically mentioned in the Public Health Act, 1875, sections 112-115, and the same trades are enumerated in the slaughterhouses, &c., Metropolis Act, 1874, 37 & 38 Vict., c. 67. These trades are:-boiling offal, or blood; boiling, burning, or crushing bones; the trade of a fellmonger; the trade of a tallow melter; the trade of a soap maker; the trade of a tripe boiler; the trade of a slaughterer. Power is given by the above Acts both in the metropolis and in the country, to the London County Council and Urban Sanitary Authorities, to make bye-laws regulating the trades or businesses mentioned, or as "to any offensive trades established with their consent." (Public Health Act, 1875, section 113.) In the Metropolis Slaughter-House Act, the trade of a "knacker" is also specifically mentioned, and any business the local authority (which in this case is the London County Council) may wish to add to the list of offensive businesses and to regulate by bye-law, must be declared so by order and be duly confirmed by the Local Government Board (section 3). It may also be mentioned that section 115 of the Public Health Act, 1875, enabling an Urban Sanitary Authority to take proceedings on the ground of nuisance with respect to an offensive trade without their district is in force in the Metropolis. (178) Blood Drier, Blood Albumin, Blood Boiling. In the manufacture of blood and in the drying of blood there are various sources of nuisance, of which the following are the chief: (1) Effluvia from putrid blood arising from the exhausted clots prior to removal. (2) The disagreeable faint smell proceeding from the yard and premises, especially when the most scrupulous cleanliness has not been observed. (3) Effluvia from other processes, such as blood boiling, or manufacture into manure, often carried on in the same premises. The business of a blood drier is regulated in the Metropolis as follows:: LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL. THE SLAUGHTERHOUSES, &C. (METROPOLIS), ACT, 1874, 37 & 38 Vic., c. 67. BYE-LAWS for regulating the conduct of the business of a Blood Drier, and any business in which blood or any of the constituent parts of blood is used, provided that heat be in any way applied or used to the same, and that, whether such blood or any of the constituent parts thereof be or be not at the time of the application or use of such heat diluted or mixed with any other substance; and the structure of the premises on which such business is being carried on; and the mode in which application is to be made for sanction to establish such business anew; within the limits of the Metropolis (except the City of London and the liberties thereof). In pursuance of the Slaughterhouses, &c. (Metropolis), Act, 1874, by which the Metropolitan Board of Works are constituted the Local Authority for the Metropolis (except the City of London and the liberties thereof), the said Metropolitan Board of Works do hereby make the following Bye-Laws :— Bye-Laws for Regulating the Conduct of the Business. 1. Every Blood Drier shall cause all blood brought upon his premises to be brought in closed vessels or receptacles constructed of galvanized iron or other non-absorbent material. 2. Every Blood Drier shall cause every process of his business (except the drying and packing processes) to be carried on in a building properly paved with asphalte, concrete, or other suitable jointless material, having walls covered to a height of at least six feet with hard, smooth, and impervious material. 3. Every Blood Drier shall cause every process of his business in which any offensive effluvia, vapours, or gases are generated, to be carried on in such manner that no offensive effluvia, vapours, or gases shall escape into the external atmosphere; and he shall cause all such offensive effluvia, vapours, or gases to be effectually destroyed. 4. Every Blood Drier shall cause all blood, blood-clot, or any refuse, residue, or other matter from which offensive effluvia or vapours are evolved or are liable to be evolved, to be placed in properly closed receptacles, or to be otherwise dealt with in such manner as to prevent any offensive effluvia or vapours therefrom escaping into the external atmosphere. 5. Every Blood Drier shall cause the floor of every place in which any process of the business (except the drying and packing processes) is carried on to be thoroughly cleansed with water, at least once in twenty-four hours; and he shall cause the premises to be constantly provided with an adequate supply of water for the purpose. 6. Every Blood Drier shall cause every inner wall of the premises on which his business is carried on to be kept at all times thoroughly clean and in good order and repair. He shall (except as is hereinafter provided) cause every such wall or part of such wall which is not covered with hard, smooth, and impervious material, and every ceiling to be thoroughly washed with hot lime-wash in the first week of each of the months of March and September in every year; provided always that this requirement shall not be deemed to extend to any chamber used for the purpose of drying albumen. 7. Every Blood Drier shall cause every vessel, receptacle, utensil, or instrument provided or used upon, or in connection with, the premises on which his business may be carried on, to be kept at all times thoroughly clean, so as to prevent the emission of any offensive smell from such vessel, receptacle, utensil, or instrument. 8. Every Blood Drier shall afford access to every part of the premises on which 1 Now London County Council. |