The proprietor of the slaughter-house in the Potteries first referred to above, was fined Five pounds and costs for allowing a large accumulation of putrid blood, &c., to remain on the premises after his attention had been repeatedly called to the necessity of properly storing and regularly removing all such matters before they became offensive.
A seizure of meat unfit for human food was made at Norfolk Terrace—at a mis-called “co-operative” store—and the defendant was fined Twenty pounds and costs.
A person who had formerly kept a licensed cow-shed was fined Forty shillings and costs for keeping cows for dairy purposes without a license.
A somewhat serious nuisance having been complained of, arising at an iron foundry at Notting Hill, from the escape of noxious fumes and grit from the low but capacious chimney above the melting furnaces, I gave a certificate to the effect necessary to found legal proceedings, which, however, were not had recourse to, the proprietors of the foundry having expressed their willingness to adopt any measures I might advise, with a view to remove the cause of complaint. They have done this by carrying up the shaft some 20 feet, and by the interposition of diaphragms to intercept the fine grit carried up by the draught; and I hope that in the result these measures will be found adequate for the purpose.
The licensed slaughter-houses—49 in number—viz., 28 in the North Sanitary District, and 21 in the South, have been duly inspected. In my last annual report I gave some account of the Slaughter Houses (Metropolis) Act, 1874, under which the Metropolitan Board of Works, as the “local authority,” were empowered to frame bye-laws, for regulating the conduct of the business of a slaughterer of cattle, and the structure of the premises in which the business is carried on. As it was impossible to get the bye-laws framed and confirmed by the Local Government Board previous to the annual licensing day in the month of October (as a matter of fact they were not confirmed until the 27th of May in the present year), your Vestry, on the recommendation of the Sanitary Committee, unanimously resolved that certain conditions were essential in order to fit a slaughter-house for the business, and decided to oppose the renewal of licenses in every case that did not come up to the standard. The conditions were as follows: