FOURTH GENERAL REPORT OF THE VESTRY OF ROTHERHITHE, SURREY. PRESENTED TO THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS. JUNE, 1860. London: PRINTED BY B. BATT, POST-OFFICE, ROTHERHITHE. 1860. We, Robert Stranack, Bartholomew Robson, William Matthew Marshall, and John Woodley Smith, the Auditors appointed by the Parishioners of the Parish of Rotherhithe in the County of Surrey, to examine and audit the accounts of the Vestry of the Parish of Rotherhithe in the County of Surrey, for the year ending 25th March, 1860, having carefully and diligently examined and investigated the accounts of the said Vestry for the period aforesaid, and the vouchers in support of the same; and the books, papers, instruments and writings in their custody or control relating thereto, do hereby certify and declare, that we have this day audited the said accounts of the said Vestry, at the Board Room at the Workhouse, Rotherhithe, in the County of Surrey, in the presence of the following, viz.:—Robert Stranack, Chairman, Bartholomew Robson, William Matthew Marshall, and John Woodley Smith, and that the said accounts are true and correct in all particulars; and we do allow the same accordingly, and sign the same in token of such our allowance thereof. Given under our hands this 5th day of May, 1860. (Signed) R. Stranack, W. M. Marshall. Bartholomew Robson. J. W. Smith. Auditors. Office, 61, Paradise Street, Rotherhitlie. ACCOUNT IN ??? Shewing the Receipt and Expenditure for One Year, ending 25th March, 1860. Under the "Metropolis Local Management Act" 18 and 19 Vic., cap. 120. RATE, &c Cash Balance at mencement of year RECEIPTS DURING THE YEAR. PAYMENTS DURING THE YEAR. Cash Balance on the 26th March, 1860. Assessment by Metropolitan Boars. Works. Establishment. Loans, 4c. Contingencies Lighting. Total. In Credit. In Debit. Hates, &c. Contributions &c. Loans, &c. Incidentals. Total. In Credit. In Credit £ s. d. £ s d. £ s. d £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ d. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 1045 7 4 Paviour's Labour. Salaries. 2329 7 0 - 1045 7 4 503 0 0 Interest. Paving, Lighting, and general purposes 405 0 1 Commission. 22 0 8 ... 3236 7 3 Day Labour. 93 8 9 - ... ... 22 0 8 - ... ... ... 3236 V 3 Kent. 361 18 7 10 0 0 lation Gas and Water Cos. Cartage. Accounts. 192 5 6 136 17 9 20 0 0 271 0 0 Stone. Valuer. ... 20 0 0 Kent 448 9 7 45 u u 33 10 0 Asphalte Curb. ... ... 788 6 6 Sundries 15 2 0 42 14 0 - ... 319 12 0 Scavenger. 273 15 0 Accounts. 206 1 7 - ... ... ... ... 1930 4 4 Lighting, half-year to 25th March, 1860 812 1 10½ 795 7 9 ... ... 812 1 10* ... ... ... ... 792 4 9 1587 12 6 Commission. 20 18 7 20 18 7 ... 4744 9 10½ ... ... ... 4744 9 10* 1907 0 6 ... ... ... ... ... 1907 0 6 Drains, &c. 25< )0 c 0 Sewers. Interest. » 117 7 8 221 8 9 50 16 5 Gullevs Labour. ... 2550 16 5 30 0 0 298 0 5 - ... ... 147 7 8 Cartage. 13 2 0 200 0 0 Accounts. ... 2000 0 0 26 9 3 - ... ... ... 559 0 5 Salaries. 400 0 0 Commission. 130 7 5 Accounts. 59 11 8 ... • •• ... 589 19 1 £12305 6 0 £9975 19 0 VESTRY OF THE PARISH OF ROTHERHITHE, SURREY. CONTRACTS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF GENERAL WORKS AND THE SUPPLY OF MATERIALS. Subsisting at the commencement of, or entered into, during the year ending 25th March, 1860. Rate, &c. Date of Contract. Names of Party with whom Contract was made. Nature of works to be performed, and materials to be supplied. Observations. Paving, Lighting Cleansing, and General purposes 10th October 1858. The Surrey Consumers' Gas Company For lighting public Lamps, at £4 15s, each per Annum. Entered into for three years from 29th September, 1857. 12th November 1859. Samuel Wright Scavengering and dusting, at £270 per annum. Entered into for one year from 17th November, 1859. 7 th March 1860. Benjamin Batt Printing and Stationery, as per schedule of prices. Entered into for one year from 25th March, 1860. 13th March 1860. Alfred Thomas Hobman Team hire and cartage. Ditto ditto 13th March 1860. A. and F. Manwelle Supply of Guernsey granite, carriage, and York paving curb, &c., as per schedule of prices. Ditto ditto 13 th March 1860. W. and T. N. Gladdish Supply of stone and ground lime as per schedule of prices. Ditto ditto ewers .. 31st March 1860. William Kent General jobbing works as per schedule of prices. Ditto ditto VESTRY OF THE PARISH OF ROTIIERHITI1E, SURREY. GENERAL ABSTRACT OF WORKS. Executed under Contracts, Agreements, &c., for Special and General Works. Year ending 25th March, 1860. Sewers' Rate. CONSTRUCTION. Repairs and alterations to Sewers, Gulleys &c. Cleansing, including Flushing, Costing Lifting. Cartage and Repairs, caused thereby. Incidental Works. Improvement Works. Total Cost. BRICK SEWERS. SIZE. COST. PIPE SEWERS. COST. Openings to Sewers. COST. IRON. SIZE. STONE-WARE. SIZE Side Entrances. Air and Flushing Shafts Gulleys. Drain Mouths. Flaps. in. 12 in. 9 in. 6 in. 4 feet. feet £ s. d. feet. feet. feet. feet. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 3 by 2 100 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 48 9 7 .. •• •• •• .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 48 9 7 170 .. .. .. 22 13 4 361 .. .. 36 3 0 364 .. 25 15 8 14 0 16 4 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 85 7 4 1 • • •• •• •• 4 12 0 3 •• •• •• 2 6 9 11 .. .. 49 9 0 38 •• 8 10 0 .. .. .. 64 17 9 22 2 9 .. .. .. 22 2 5 319 18 9 .. .. 319 18 9 - 12 8 11 •• 12 2 11 £552 18 9 VESTRY OF THE PARISH OF ROTHERHITHE, SURREY. GENERAL ABSTRACT OF WORKS. Executed under Contracts, Agreements, &c., for Special and General Works. Year, ending 25th March, 1860. General Bate. PAVING. Lighting. Watering. Cleansing. Improving. Removing Dust. Total. Footway. Carriageway. • £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Paviours and Masons employed by the Vestry 223 2 3 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 223 2 3 181 17 10 181 17 10 Samuel Wright, Cartage .. .. .. .. .. • • .. .. 192 5 6 .. .. Wages of Day Labourers and Stone-Breaking.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 361 18 7 .. .. .. .. 554 4 1 Removing Dust, &c. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 273 15 0 273 15 0 Surrey Consumers' Gas Company .. .. .. .. 793 0 3 Contributions (Ackland) half-year to 29th September, 1859 .. .. .. .. 2 7 6 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 795 7 9 ' £2028 6 11 VESTRY OF THE PARISH OF ROTHERHITHE, SURREY. GENERAL ABSTEACT OF WORKS. Executed under Contracts, Agreements, &c., for Special and General Works. Half-year ending 25th March, 1860. Lighting Rate. Lighting. Contribution. Commission. • Totais. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ S. d. £ S. d. £ s. d. £ S. d. £ s. d. The Surrey Consumers' Gas Company 789 17 3 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 789 17 3 Mr. B. Ackland .. .. 2 7 6 ..• • .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2 7 6 Mr. C. R. Westlotorn, Collector .. .. .. .. 20 18 7 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 20 18 7 £813 3 4 VESTRY OF THE PARISH OF ROTHERHITHE, SURREY. Account of Moneys owing to, and Debts owing by, the Vestry of Rotherhithe, Surrey, on the 25th March, 1860. Rate, &c. MONEYS OWING TO THE VESTBY. DEBTS AND LIABILITIES OWING BY THE VESTRY. Cash Balance. Uncollected Bates. Contributions to be received. Total. Cash Balance. Assessment by Metropolitan Board. Loans, &c. Estimated value of Compensation Annuities granted. Special Contracts outstanding. Tradesmen's bills and other obligations not under special contracts. Total. £ s. d £ s. d. £ s. d, £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Paving, and General Purposes. 2329 7 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. 2329 7 0 800 0 0 .. .. .. .. 800 0 0 120 0 0 Mrs. Arnold .. .. 120 0 0 50 0 0 .. .. .. .. 500 0 0 Lighting. .. .. 90 0 0 Surrey Consumers' Company. .. .. 90 0 0 5 17 5 Southwark Water Company. 5 14 5 Baker & Co. Sewers. .. .. 230 0 0 106 11 3 120 3 1 • • • • 230 0 0 Bradshaw. 18 15 0 Wilson. 11 1 2 Landon. London and Westminster Bank. 10 2 0 Rent Shepherd. 14 10 0 16 4 4 .. .. 14 10 0 Glassborow. 100 0 0 8 11 10 .. .. .. .. 1000 0 0 Bliss. 13 2 0 Haselwood. 10 19 6 Obey. 12 12 3 Stileman. 19 0 Bovles. 15 0 0 .. .. 135 8 7 £3039 8 8 £2300 0 0 Balance on 25th March, 18595 1021 13 1½ Salaries—Medical officer of Heath, Clerk, surveyor,Inspector or Nuisances, and Street keeper, one year 503 0 0 Cash received from Paving Rates, viz:- Commission ditto 93 8 9 No. 2, made July, 1856, at 8d. in the pound 0 11 4 Lighting, half-year to September, 1859 795 7 9 No. 3, made January, 1857, at 8d. in the pound 3 1 0 Paviours' Labour, one year 405 0 1 No. 4, made July, 1857, at 1s. in the pound 11 10 8 Day Labour ditto 361 18 7 No. 5, made february, 1858, at 1s. in the pound 61 3 4 Cartage ditto 192 5 6 No. 6, made October, 1858, at 8d. in the pound 288 2 2½ Stone ditto 448 9 7 No. 7, made April, 1859, at 6d. in the pound 1789 18 5½ Asphalte Curb ditto 42 14 0 No. 8, made October, 1859, at 4d. in the pound 1032 0 3 Scavengering and Dusting 273 15 0 - 3236 7 3 Surrey Consumers' Gas Company, Repairs to Tranches 185 15 7 Interest on Loan (Mrs. Arnold) one year 22 0 8 Rent ditto 10 0 0 Southwark Water Company ditto 84 2 9 Valuation Committee expenses, one year and a-half 45 0 0 Kent Water Company ditto 1 1 8 Stationery, one year 36 10 1 Rent of House, Trinity Street 33 10 0 Removal of Nuisances ditto 5 19 10 Sundry Contributions for Paving, &c. 11 8 0 Lime ditto 29 0 6 Cost of Summonses under Nuisances, Removal Act, received of Defendants 3 14 0 Gravel ditto 14 16 4 • / Wharfage ditto 15 5 6 Shed at Laystall £68 10 0 Pump at ditto 4 15 0 Plans, Specifications, ditto 10 0 0 - 83 5 0 Fire Escapes 11 11 3 Moiety of cost of crossing at Millpond Bridge, and Iron gate,West Lane, right of way 14 13 10 Vaccination Boards 13 6 0 Perambulation Expenses 20 0 0 Sundry Tradesmen's Bills 118 11 0 Balance at Bank 1020 11 8 4576 10 11 Lent Lighting Account 1 1 5½ £4577 12 4½ £4577 12 4½ Lighting, half-year ending 25th March, 1860. Cash received from Lighting Rate, viz.:— Lighting, half-year 792 4 9 No. 1, made 4th October, 1859, at 3d. in the pound 812 1 10½ Borrowed from Paving Account 1 1 5½ Commission 20 18 7 2813 3 4 £813 3 4 Sewers for one Year, ending 25th March, 1860, Balance on 25th March. 1859 23 14 2½ Salaries, one year 400 0 0 Cash received from Sewers' Rates, viz.,— Commission ditto 130 7 5 No. 2, made November, 1856, at 6d. in the pound 1 7 11 Loan (London and Westminster Bank) 2500 0 0 No. 3, made July, 1857, at 8d. in the pound 11 1 8 Interest 50 16 5 No. 4, made October, 1858, at 6d. in the pound 218 9 4½ Kent General Drainage 221 8 9 No. 5, made April, 1859, at 8d. in the pound 2347 0 5 Bulmer Contract for Private Drainage, 15 0 0 No. 6, made November, 1859, in the pound 2166 10 6 Stationery 31 3 8 - 4741 9 10½ Metropolitan Board of Works 1907 0 6 Cash received from various persons for putting in drains, &c. 117 7 8 Labour 298 0 5 Trustees of Turnpike Roads, Contribution towards cost of l0 Gulleys 30 0 0 Cartage 13 2 0 Loan from London and Westminster Rank 2000 0 0 Sundry Trandesmans' Bill 39 17 3 Balance at Bank 1308 15 4 £6915 11 9 Assets to 25th March, 1860. Liabilities to 25th March, 1860. Balance at Bank 2329 7 0 Loan, London and Westminster Bank 1000 0 0 Net outstanding Rates, viz., Paving No. 8, 120 0 0 Mrs. Arnold on Loan 500 0 0 „ „ Lighting, No.1, 90 0 0 Precept Metropolitan Board of Works for Main Drainage Rate, payable, April, 1860 800 0 0 „ „ Sewers, No. 6, 230 0 0 Account rendered Surrey Gas Company for making good Trenches 5 17 5 ,, Southwark Water Company ditto 5 14 5 Messrs. Baker and Co. Paving at Surrey Dock entrances 108 11 3 Accounts for private drainage under agreements to repay by instalments 135 8 7 Rent due for House, Trinity Street, (Carpenter, tenant) 14 10 0 £3039 8 8 £2300 0 0 FOURTH GENERAL REPORT OF THE VESTRY OF THE PARISH OF ROTHERHITHE, SURREY. 1860. During the past year the Vestry have held twenty General Meetings, and thirtynine Committee Meetings. SEWERS' WORKS. The lengths of drains and sewers laid by the Vestry to Lady-day are:— Feet. 4-inch pipe 14 6 do. 364 9 do. 361 12 do. 170 3 feet by 2 feet sewer, (rear of Dartmouth-terrace, Rother- hithe New-road 100 Total 1009 One entrance to sewer, three flushing-shafts, eleven roadgulleys, and thirty-eight drain-mouths and junctions to sewers have been formed. Eighty-five applications have been made to drain houses into sewers, including notices of intended new buildings and plans checked and approved, comprising about one hundred and eighty-four houses, one hundred and fifty-seven of which have been drained and completed. About eighty cesspools have been done away with. The Vestry in July last again memorialized the Metropolitan Board of Works 12 to proceed with the erection of the Pumping Station at the outlet of the Earl Sewer, or to commence immediately the northern or Bermondsey branch of the main drainage, in order to relieve the waterlogged condition of the sewers in this Parish (see Appendix No. 1) and in August, the Metropolitan Board ordered the erection of Pumping Engines at the mouth of the Earl Sewer, near Saint George's Stairs, Deptford, for producing a continual discharge from the sewers in this district, which works are now being proceeded with. The Metropolitan Board of Works having in their estimate of the amount required for the expenses of the Board for the year 1860, proposed to charge the cost of the erection of the before-mentioned Pumping Station at the mouth of the Earl Sewer to the Parishes within the Surrey and Kent Districts; the Vestry presented a Memorial against the proposed apportionment of the cost of such works (see Appendix No. 2). And on the 23rd March, 1860, the Metropolitan Board ordered that so much of the cost of the works at the Earl outlet, St. George's Wharf, as related to the construction of the brick and iron pipe sewers, should be charged to the main drainage account, and that the cost of the engines, engine-houses, pumps, and the annual charge for pumping during its continuance, should be paid by the several Parishes according to the actual benefit derived, which had the effect of reducing the amount to be paid by this Parish from £1844 9s. 5d., to £1397 lis. 5d. PAVING WORKS. The following works have been done with new and old stone :— New dressed crossings and channels 256 yards. New granite carriage-way 72 do. Old carriage-way relaid 4,684 do. Granite carriage-way rough dressed 105 do. New york paving 6,670 feet super. Old York paving relaid 11,352 do. Old York new faced 594 do. New granite curbing 2,678 feet run. New asphalte curbing 1,688 do Old curb reset 2,618 do. Curb reworked 1,1 90 do New granite circular curb45 do. materials have been used in the reparation of the roads, footpaths, Guernsey granite74 yards. Common do. 0150 do. Thames ballast 445 do. Ground carted1330 do. Lime 46 do. Sand61 do. Foundry clinkers 370 do. 13. The new Lavstall at the back of the Workhouse is now complete, and the following is a statement of the cost thereof, viz.:— £ s. d. Labour (including carpenter) 55 15 0 Material 57 19 8 Cartage 47 7 0 Wall 89 16 0 Shed roofing and stalls for stone-breakers 68 10 0 Tiling old shed, &c. 10 17 0 Steining Cesspool for Watercloset 3 11 3 Do. Well 2 18 1 Pump 4 15 0 Specifications, Plans, &c. 10 0 0 Total 351 9 0 The following is a statement of the cost of making-up the road and footways in Chilton-street, viz.:— £ s. d. Asphalte curb 42 14 0 Labour 26 13 0 Cartage 5 12 6 Material 24 7 7 Total £99 7 1 The Commercial Dock Company having applied to Parliament for an Act to extend the time for carrying out their new entrance from the River, the Vestry presented a petition opposing the Bill, in order to obtain, if possible, an alteration in the gradient of the approaches to the proposed Bridge across the new entrance, near Lavender-place, Rotherhithe-street, viz.:—That such gradient should be not less than one foot in thirty feet, instead of one in twenty. The opposition, however, was not successful and the Act passed. The Vestry also presented Petitions to oppose the" South London Railway, No. 1," "South London Railway, No. 2," and "Thames Tunnel Railway" Bills, so far as the proposed works affected the traffic of the public streets and roads of this Parish, and a Committee of the Vestry was appointed to watch the progress of the several Bills through Parliament, the Committee attended before the Committees of the House of Commons upon these Bills being brought forward. These Bills were, ultimately, all withdrawn. LIGHTING. One new lamp has been placed in Thetford-place, making the total number of gas lamps in this Parish, lighted under contract with the Surrey Consumers' Gas Company, 333. (For particulars of contract, see page 4.) 14 An apparatus for testing gas has been erected in the vault under the Vestry Hall of St John's Horselydown, and experiments are being conducted to test the quantity and quality of gas supplied in this District under the supervision of the Committee appointed by this Vestry in conjunction with St. Olaves District Board the proceedings of the joint Committee will be found in detail in the forty-ninth and fifty-first Reports of the Medical Officer of Health. On the 13th March last, the Vestry resolved that a sum not exceeding £50, might be contributed towards the expense of passing the Metropolitan Gas Regulation Bill, and referred the matter to the members of the Gas Committee for them to determine upon the amount to be subscribed. In consequence of the impurity of the gas supplied by the Surrey Consumers Gas Company in January last, the Vestry presented a memorial to the Secretary of State (see Appendix No. 3), proceedings were also taken under the Nuisances' Removal Act against the Company, but the summons was dismissed by the Magistrate. WATERING. The Vestry having determined to provide means for watering the streets of the Parish, two wells have been sunk, and pumps erected, viz.:—one at the north end of Swan-lane, and one near Canada Wharf, Rotherhithe-street, and two water-carts have been hired for the season, at £7 10s. each cart—the watering is being carried out under the direction of the Surveyor of Sewers, assisted by the Clerk of the Works. CLEANSING, &c. The Vestry have entered into a contract with Mr. S. Wright for the removal of dust, &c., from the dwellings of the inhabitants, and for cleansing the paved streets (for particulars of Contract, see page 4). REMOVAL OF NUISANCES' PROCEEDINGS, &c. From the 25th of March, 1859, to the 25th of March, 1860, seventy-five notices have been served in duplicate under the Nuisances' Removal Act, upon complaints made by the Medical Officer and Inspector of Nuisances, thirty-seven of which have been effectually abated by proper drainage being made from the respective houses into covered sewers, and thirty-eight have been abated by removal. Thirteen summonses have been issued, and Magistrates' orders obtained and carried out. Twenty-four notices to make drains and provide water-closets, ash-pits, and water-supply have been served by order of the Vestry. In twenty cases, the owners have properly complied therewith, and four are still standing over. 15 Twelve notices of intention of butchers to apply to have slaughterhouses licensed in this Parish were received by the Vestry, which were severally inspected and reported upon by the Medical Officer of Health (see Medical Officer's forty-fifth Report, October, 1859), and ten slaughterhouses were licensed by the Magistrates in October, 1859. FINANCIAL. The loan, borrowed by the Vestry of the London and Westminster Bank, in 1857, originally £3000, has been reduced to £1000. The loan of £500, borrowed by the late Commissioners of Pavements, of Mrs. Arnold at four and a-half per cent. still continues. CHARITY ESTATES. The following Gentlemen have been appointed Trustees of the Charity Estates of this Parish, viz.:—Messrs. Charles Erwin, William Jonathan Smith, Henry Ravenhill, William Henry Stevens, William James Blake, Edmond George Dannell, Edward Talbot, John Sanderson, Robert Newham, James Arnold, George Smith, Daniel Serle, Henry Booth, Gervase Foottit, John Bulmer, Robert Brakenberry, Benjamin Holman, John Woodward Barrett, John Hedgecock Jenkins, James Robert Goodhew, James Hare Matthews, William Caston, Jun., Thomas Faldo, Robert Allen, and William Garth. The accounts of Messrs. Charles Erwin and William Jonathan Smith, the Churchwardens, for the year 1859-60, have been audited, and the following is a copy of the Charities' Account:— £ s. d. To Cash received from Stratford Estate 70 14 10 „ „ „ Plaistow Estate 25 0 6 „ „ „ Smith's Charity 38 7 6 „ „ „ Ambrose Bennett's Gift 9 0 0 „ „ „ Hill and Bell's Charity 6 0 0 „ „ „ Coat and Cloak Charity . 6 0 0 „ „ „ Mrs. Embelton's Gift 5 0 10 Balance due to the Churchwardens 23 12 3 £183 15 11 By Balance paid to late Churchwardens -20 7 1 „ Cash paid for Bread 140 8 0 Hill and Bell's Charity, Treasurer of Charity School 3 0 0 Mrs. Embelton's Gift 5 0 10 Coat and Cloak Charity 6 0 0 Ambrose Bennett's Gift, distributed in Coals, &c. 9 0 0 £183 15 11 16 MISCELLANEOUS. In consequence of the closing of All Saints' Burial Ground by Order in Council, The Vestry in November, 1859, appointed a Committee to consider the best'course to be adopted for obtaining a burial-ground for this Parish; which Committee instituted inquiries as to the several cemeteries round the Metropolis, the Committee also visited the new burial-ground at Brockley, belonging to the Parish of St. Paul, Deptford, and had a conference with the Burial Board, when that Board agreed to permit the burial of paupers from this Parish to take place at Brockley, upon the same terms and conditions as burials from the Parish of St. Nicholas, Deptford, and the Committee finding the general charge for interments at Brockley Cemetery to be moderate, and that it would from its proximity prove less expensive to the inhabitants of this Parish, they recommended to the Vestry that pauper funerals from this Parish should be taken to that cemetery, which recommendation the Guardians of the Poor adopted, and all burials at the charge of this Parish have since that time been satisfactorily performed there. The Order in Council directing that the coffins in the public vaults beneath the Parish Church of St. Mary should be covered with fresh earth and concrete, and the existing entrance bricked up, has been carried out at a total cost of £177 18s. which was paid under the Act of Parliament, 20th and 21st Victoria, cap. 81, out of the Poor Rate (see forty-sixth Report of the Medical Officer of Health). The boundaries of this Parish were perambulated on Holy Thursday, 1859, the Vestry appointed a Committee to assist the Churchwardens in carrying out the necessary arrangements, and contributed £20 towards the expenses of the perambulation. The Vestry in July, 1859, presented a memorial to the Conservators of the River Thames urging the erection of a pier for steam-boats, at or near Cherry Garden Stairs, in the Parish of Bermondsey, and a Committee has been formed to act in conjunction with a Committee appointed by the Vestry of Bermondsey in endeavouring to obtain the object prayed for in the memorial. The Vestry have had under consideration the proposed Bill, to amend the Metropolis Local Management Act, and caused several clauses to be drawn up for insertion therein, and amongst others, a clause empowering Vestries and District Boards to reform, pave, and drain new streets, upon default of the owners, and recover the expense thereof, from them; also, a clause requiring all cow-houses and marine store dealers premises, to be annually licensed ; they also urged the insertion of a clause providing for the representation of this Parish, at the Metropolitan Board of Works, by an independent Member. In April 1859, the vestry entered a protest against the removal of the Offices of the Metropolitan Board of Works, from Greek-street, Soho, to Berkeley House, Springgardens; also in December 1859, another protest against the appointment by the Metropolitan Board of Works, of E. II. Woolrych, Esq., as Standing-Counsel and Legal Adviser of that Board, at an annual retaining fee. 17 The Vestry have had under consideration a proposal from the Committee of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, to exchange a portion of the site of the houses belonging to the Hospital at the east end of Church-passage, for the present public way there, and the Vestry have agreed to the exchange, upon condition that the Committee of the Hospital give up to the public a road 20 feet in width throughout, on the site of the block of houses at the east end of Church-passage, and that they agree to pay one moiety of the expense of forming and paving such new road. The Vestry have caused two new fire-escapes to be provided and kept at the following places, viz., one at Commercial Dock Offices, Commercial Dock Road, and the other at Mr. W. J. Smith's, Globe Dock, Rotherhithe-street, and the old fireescapes kept respectively at the Police Station, the Workhouse, and Surrey Canal Dock entrance, have been examined and repaired. Three notice boards with an inscription thereon, stating where the fire-escapes are kept, together with the residences of the Turncocks, have been made by order of the Vestry, and placed respectively at the end of Albion-street, next Deptford Lower Road, at the west end of Plough Road, and near Trinity Church, APPENDIX (No. 1). TO THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OE WORKS, THE MEMORIAL OF THE VESTRY IN THE PARISH OF ROTHERHITHE IN THE COUNTY OF SURREY. Sheweth,—That a large portion of your Memorialists' Parish lies below the level of Trinity high-water mark, and in many instances, six or seven feet beneath the same. That the Earl main sewer, which drains several large districts on the south side of the River Thames, passes through the said Parish, and its outlet is much below high-water mark. That the Deptford-road Sewer being the main sewer of this Parish, discharges itself into the said Earl Sewer, its outlet being at a higher level than the sewer itself. That in consequence of the low level of the said Earl Sewer, it is prevented from discharging its contents into the River for nearly sixteen out of the twentyfour hours. 18 That the said Deptford-road Sewer, from the peculiar construction of its outlet, can only discharge its contents into the said Earl Sewer for two hours in every twelve, under the most favourable circumstances. That not only the sewage of your Memorialists' said Parish, but also the sewage of part of the neighbouring Parish of Bermondsey, recently turned in the said Deptfordroad Sewer, is pent-up and retained in the sewers in the said Parish for nearly twenty hours daily, and sometimes for a longer period. That on ordinary occasions the said Deptford-road Sewer, and also the branch sewers, are filled with sewage matter, and the foul air pent-up therein is forced into the streets and houses, and on the occurrence of storms, when large quantities of rain fall in a short time, the said Deptford-road Sewer is not only prevented from disharging its contents, but the water in the Earl Sewer rises above the outlet of the flap of the said Deptford-road Sewer, and backs up the latter, and overflows into the cellars and basement floors of the houses along its course, and also on to the low garden-grounds in this Parish, and most serious injury is inflicted on the inhabitants in consequence. That your Memorialists fear most serious and fatal evils are likely to arise from the large volumes of foul gases that are constantly driven up through airshafts into the public streets, and through the private drains into the houses, in consequence of the overcharged state of the Deptford-road Sewer, which gases are the most deleterious of all gases, and calculated greatly to effect the health of the inhabitants of this Parish. That your Memorialists beg to call the attention of your Board to the Report made by your engineer, bearing date the 3rd of April, 1856, which states, that the sewers in this locality are necessarily so low that they can only discharge their contents into the River, for about four hours each tide. The sewers being closed at their outlets for the remaining eight hours, become reservoirs of stagnant sewage for sixteen hours in every day, and unavoidably accumulate deposit, and that to maintain a continual and unremitting flow in the sewers of this low district, and to drain the cellars and subsoil effectually, so as to make them dry and healthy, demands the aid of pumping. That the condition of this Parish has frequently been brought under the notice or your Board by your Memorialists, and on the 1st January, 1858, your Honourable Board resolved, after elaborate investigation, to erect a pumping station at the outlet of the Earl Sewer, for the purpose of relieving the Sewers in the District. That the said pumping station has not been erected, whilst on the other hand, a vast inciease of sewage matter has been driven into these Sewers. Your Memorialists, therefore, urge upon your Board, that they are in justice entitled to have, without delay, the temporary benefit and relief suggested by your Egineer, in April, 1856, and resolved to be carried out in January, 1858: and beg that your Honourable Board will either 19 at once erect a pumping station at the outlet of Deptford-road Sewer, or the Earl Sewer, or else immediately proceed with the execution of the Northern or Bermondsey Branch Sewer, and carry out such other works in connection therewith, as may without further delay effectually relieve your Memorialists' said Parish. The Corporation seal affixed by order of the Vestry, at a General Meeting, held the 5th day of July, 1859, L. S. (Signed) R. Shafto Hawks. Clerk. (APPENDIX No. 2.) TO THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS, THE MEMORIAL OF THE VESTRY OF ROTHERHITHE, SURREY. \ Sheweth,—That the Vestry of Rotherhithe, are informed that the Metropolitan Board of Works are about to charge the cost of carrying out the works for the erection of a pumping station at the outlet of the Earl Sewer at Deptford, exclusively upon certain Districts in Surrey and Kent, and that such estimated cost is to be included in the Precepts about to be issued for moneys required by your Board exclusive of main Drainage works. That this Vestry considering that the erection of the pumping station is a work absolutely necessary to be carried out during the execution of the Main Drainage works, in order to prevent the District south of the Thames being flooded, and considering that the same work will hereafter be available as a provision against storm overflow, when the Main Drainage works are completed, is of opinion that the cost of such works should be charged to the Main Drainage Rates, and not on the District Rates, and therefore urge that your Board will charge the cost of the said works to the Main Drainage Rates. Sealed by order of the Vestry of Rotherhithe, L. S. (Signed) Charles Erwin, Chairman. (Signed) R. Shafto Hawks, Clerk. 20 APPENDIX (NO. 3). TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR GEORGE GORNEWALL LEWIS, BARONET, ONE OF HER MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF STATE. The Rumble Memorial of the Vestry of Rotherhithe, in the County of Surrey. Sheweth, 'That your Memoralists' Parish contains a population of twenty thousand inhabitants, and is supplied with gas by a Company, called "The Surrey Consumers' Gas Company. That by combination with other Gas Companies, one of which formerly supplied the Parish of Rotherhithe with gas, the Surrey Consumers' Gas Company obtained the exclusive supply to this Parish, and the inhabitants of the Parish are unable in consequence to obtain a supply of gas from any other source. That very numerous complaints have, during the last two years, been made to your Memoralists of the inefficient, irregular, and impure supply of gas provided by the said Company, as well to the inhabitants as private consumers, as to the public lamps, and representations on the subject have been repeatedly made to the said Company, but without effect. That from the 4th to the 16th days of January, 1860, the impurity of the gas supplied by the said, Company was so great as to render it not only unfit for burning in private houses, but also most injurious to the health of the inhabitants of this Parish, in consequence of its having been sent into the mains and pipes in a most improper state. That in many of the houses in the Parish it was impossible to burn the gas without the production of noxious fumes rendering the houses quite uninhabitable. That on the 15th of January last, the several churches in the Parish were filled with these noxious fumes, which were so bad as most materially to incommode the congregations who suffered greatly by the inhalation thereof. That several of the inhabitants of this Parish suffered so severely in health by reason of inhaling these noxious fumes, that they have been compelled to place themselves under medical treatment, and it was found absolutely necessary, in many houses, to discontinue the burning of gas therein for several days. That there is no provision in the Gas Works Clauses Act for preventing such a great evil, or for enforcing a penalty on a Company which supplies impure and unwholesome gas. 21 That your Memoralists have for some years past, and still are adopting energetic proceedings under the Nuisances' Removal Act for the suppression of nuisances arising from several manufactories in the Parish, and have succeeded in abating a large number of nuisances. That in the opinion of your Memoralists, no nuisance has existed in this Parish so serious as that emanating from the Gas Company, and now complained of. That the only remedy the parishioners have against the Company, is either to discontinue to burn gas, or for each parishioner to bring an action against the Company. That the supply of unwholesome gas, above complained of, may, unless provided for by the Legislature, often recur to the serious danger of the health of a large population. Your Memoralists, therefore, respectfully pray, that Her Majesty's Government will take effectual measures for preventing the supply of impure and unwholesome gas, by the introduction into Parliament of some Bill providing severe penalties or otherwise, for the punishment of any Company that may supply gas of an impure nature, and injurious to health. Sealed by order of the Vestry of Rotherhithe, at a General Meeting, held on the 10th day of February, 1860. L. S. (Signed) Charles Erwin, Chairman. 22 VESTRYMEN, AUDITORS, AND OFFICERS OF THE PARISH OF ROTHERHITHE, SURREY. Under the " Metropolis Management Act." 1860. Vestrymen. Rev. Edward Blick, M.A., itectory, onurcn-street Mr. William Jonathan Smith, Globe-street Mr Benjamin Shipley Slipper. Jamacia-level Churchwardens. To go out of Office in Mr. Robert Newham, 381, Rotherhithe-wall 1861 Mr. George Smith, Church-street „ Mr. William James Blake, Sarah-place, Swan-lane „ Mr. Robert Allen, Union-road „ Mr. James Robert Goodhew, Lower York-street „ Mr. Augustus Pederick Timothy, Grice's Granary, Rotherhithe-street „ Mr. James Hare Matthews, Paradise-street „ Mr. James Arnold, Church-passage „ Mr. Edward Talbot, Church-street 1802 Mr. John Sanderson, Church-street „ Mr. William Henry Stevens, Princess-street „ Mr. Edmond George Dannell, Bedford-place, Deptford Lower-road „ Mr. Charles Hay, Deptford Lower-road „ Mr. William Caston, Jun., Lower York-street „ Mr. Benjamin Holman, Commercial Dock-road „ Mr. William Harris, Mary's Cottages, Plough-road „ Mr. Robert Brakenberry, 358, Rotherhithe-wall 1863 Mr. Henery Booth, 1, Union-road „ Mr. Charles Erwin, Walker-place, Lower-road „ Mr. Daniel Serle, James-place, Lower-road „ Mr. John Woodward Barrett, Thames-street „ Mr. John Cox, "Albion" Albion-street „ Mr. James Pord, 354, Rotherhithe-wall „ Mr. Samuel Tilley, 27, Paradise-row „ Auditors of Accounts. Mr. William Matthew Marshall, Rotherhithe-wall. Mr. John Woodley Smith, "Spread Eagle," Rotherhithe-street. Mr. Bartholomew Robson, Lucas-street. Mr. Robert Stranack, Paradise-row. Mr. Richard Burcham, Paradise-row. Officers. Robert Shafto Hawks, 61, Paradise-street, Clerk. William Murdoch, M.D., Rotherhithe-street, Medical Officer of Health. George Legg, 61, King William-street, City, Surveyor of Sewers. John Kelsey, 72, Paradise-street, Surveyor of Pavements. Charles Richard Westlotorn, 3, Goldsworthy-terrace, Lower-road, Collector of Paving and Sewers' Rates. Joseph Bishop, Paradise-row, Clerk of the Works. Joseph John Sanders, 49, Paradise-street, Sanitary Inspector and Street Keeper. 23 PARISH OF SAINT MARY, ROTHERHITHE, SURREY. 1860. Churchwardens. Mr. William Jonathan Smith, Globe-street. Mr. Benjamin Shipley Slipper, Jamaica-level. Overseers. Mr. Edward Talbot, Church-street. Mr. John Sanderson, Church-street. Mr. William Avery, Portland-terrace. Mr. John Woodward Barrett, Thames-street. Valuer. Mr. Benjamin Shipley Slipper. Assistant Valuers. Mr. George Smith, Church-street. Mr. Charles Erwin, Walker-place, Lower-road. Mr. James Arnold, Church-passage. Mr. Edmond George Dannell, Bedford-place, Lower-road. Vestry Clerk. R. Shafto Hawks, 61, Paradise-street. Parish Clerk. Ebenezer Bradshaw, Church-street. \ Sextoness. Harriet Nowne, Princes-street. Beadle. Henry John Hambrook, Portland-place, Lower-road. Turncocks, For the West Division of the Parish. E. Easton, 10, Riley-street, Great George-street, Bermondsey. William Brown, 18, Little Cherry Garden-street, Bermondsey. For the East Division. George Francomb, 8, Chilton-street, Rotherhithe. 24 PARISH OF SAINT MARY, ROTHERHITIHE. Guardians of the Poor, 1860. Chairman. William Jonathan Smith, Esq. Vice-Chairman. Charles Erwin, Esq. Mr. Edward Talbot, Church-street. Mr. Henry Booth, Union-road. Mr. Gervase Form, Rotherhithe-street. Mr. Benjamin Shipley Slipper, Jamaica-level. Mr. James Arnold, Church-passage. Mr. James Ford, Rotherhithe-wall. Mr. Robert Stranack, Paradise-row. Mr. Edmond George Dannell, Bedford-place. Mr. Charles Hay, Lower-road. Mr. Robert Brakenberry, Rotherhithe-wall. Mr. William James Blake, Swan-lane. Mr. Daniel Serle, James-place. Mr. Henry Ravenhill, Rotherhithe-street. Robert Shafto Hawks, 61, Paradise-street, Clerk to the Board. Medical Officers. William Sowerby Wallen, (East District) Portland-terrace, Lower-road. George William Nichols, (West District and Workhouse) Almond Tree House, Lower-road. Superintendent Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, and Collector of Poor Hates George Houstoun Clark, 2, Goldsworthy-terrace, Lower-road. Registrar of Marriages, and Relieving Officer. John George Bayley, 61, Paradise-street. Registrar of Births and Deaths. John James Bayley, 61, Paradise-street. 2264 No. 18. Vestry of the ???arih of Rotherhelhe Journey STATEMENT AND ACCOUNT OF THE AMOUNT OF ALL CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO, AND OF ALL MONIES RECEIVED AND EXPENDED DURING THE YEAR, AND ALSO OF ALL ARREARS OF RATES, AND OTHER MONIES OWING TO, AND ALL MORTGAGES AND OTHER DEBTS AND LIABILITIES OWING BY, THE Vestry ON THE 25th MARCH, 1860 JOHN SMITH & Co, CONTRACTORS TO THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS. We Robert Lamarck Bart homer Rohoow William mother marohall and folw Woodley smith the Auditors appointed by the Pamslionero of the Parow of Rotherhelhs in the commly of Furrey to examine and audit the accounts of the Vestry of the Parish of Rotherhelhe in the commly of furrey for the year ending 25th March, 1860, having carefully and diligently examined and investigated the accounts of the said Veslry for the period aforesaid, and the vouchers in support of the same; and the books, papers, instruments, and writings, in their custody or control relating thereto, do hereby certify ^ and declare, that We have this day audited the said accounts of the said Veslry at the Boord room at the worthtmse Roherhth in the County Furrey in the presence of the followin Charirman Rantholomer Rohoow William mallher marohall and folw Woodley Smith and that the said accounts are true and correct in all particulars : and We do allow the same accordingly, and sign the same in token of such our allowance thereof. Given under our hands this fifth day of may 1860 ??? AUDITORS. Office- 61 Paradise fhest Rotherhithe STATEMENT AND ACCOUNT OF ALL CONTRACTS Entered into by the ____________________________________________________________________________________ during the Year ending 25th March, 185 CONTRACTS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF SPECIAL WORKS. DATES OF CONTRACT LOCALITY NAME OF CONTRACTOR Quantity of Work agreed to be Constructed CONTRACT PRICE Quantity of Work Commenced and Completed during the Year Amount of Extra and Additional Works beyond Sum provided in Contract Amount of Deductions and Omissions from Contract Actual Cost of Work Observations Length, &c. Size, &c. Contract Sum Amount provided for Extras Total Length, &c. Size, &c. SWERS RATE. Vestry of the Parish of Rotherhelhe Survey CONTRACTS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF GENERAL WORKS AND SUPPLY OF MATERIALS, RATE, &c. Date of Contract Name of Thirty with whom Contract was made Nature of Works to be Performed, and Materials to be Supplied Observations Panng Lighluny Blansug and General Purposes 10th October 1858 The serrey Consmmers For lighling pulthe Lanps at £4„a5„0each per annum endered udo for three years from 29th September 1857. 12th November 1859 Sammed Wright Seaveng every and During at £270 per annum „ and year from 17th November 1859 7th March 1860 Beryanin Balt Printing and Stationery as per Schedule of Prices „ and year from 25th March 1860 13th March 1860 Alfred Thomas Holman Team Here and barrage ditto ditto 13th March 1860 A and H. Mannerly Supply of Guensey Gransle Carriage and forth Paring burb to as per Schedule of prices ditto ditto 13th March 1860 Wand T.N. Gladdc??? Supply of Stone and Grond June as per Schedule of prices ditto ditto Sewers 31st March 1860 William Year General jobbing Worth as per Schedule of prices ditto ditto Veslry of the Parish of Rotherhishe Survey STATEMENT AND ACCOUNT OF ALL MONIES RECEIVED AND EXPENDED, During the Year ending 25th March, 1860 , Under the "Metropolis Local Management Act," 18 and 19 Victoriæ, Cap. 120. RATE, &c. CASH BALANCE at commencement of Year RECEIPTS DURING THE YEAR PAYMENTS DURING THE YEAR CASH BALANCE on the 25th March, 185 Rates, &c. Contributions, &c Loans, &c. Incidentals Total Assessments by Metropolitan Board Works Establishment Loans, &c. Contingencies Lighting Total In Credit In Debt In Credit In Debt £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s d. 1045 7 4 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 1045 7 4 Parians Labor Salaries Interest 2329 7 „ Puowing Lighting and General purpose 32.36 7 3 „ „ „ „ „ „ 32.36 7 3 405 „ 1 503 „ „ 22 „ 8 22 „ 8 Day Labor Commission „ „ „ Gas and Motor Companies 361 18 7 93 8 9 Garbage Rent Peran??? 271 „ „ 192 5 6 10 „ „ 20 „ „ „ „ 20 „ „ Stone Accounts 33 10 „ 448 9 7 136 17 9 ' ??? Values 15 2 „ „ „ „ „ „ 319 12 „ 42 14 „ 45 „ „ 788 6 6 Scavenger 273 15 „ Accounts 206 1 7 „ „ „ 1930 4 4 z Lighting boles year to 25th March 1860 812 1 10/2 812 1 10/2 792 4 9 1587 12 6 W rf " /, " / 20 18 7 „ „ „ „ 20 18 7 Servers 4744 9 10/2 „ „ „ „ 4744 9 10/2 1907 „ 6 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 1907 „ 6 Servers 2500 „ „ Drains??? 221 8 9 Interest 117 7 8 Labor 50 16 5 Galleys 298 „ 5 „ „ „ „ 2550 16 5 Cartage 13 2 „ 30 „ „ „ „ „ „ 147 7 8 Accounts 26 9 3 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 559 „ 5 2000 „ „ Salaries 2000 „ „ „ „ 400 „ „ Commission 130 7 5 Accounts 59 11 8 „ „ „ „ „ „ 589 19 1 £ 12305 6 „ £ 9975 19 „ Veslry of the Parish of Rotherhithe Survey STATEMENT AND ACCOUNT of all Arrears of Rates and other Monies owing to, and of all Mortgages, Debts, and Liabilities owing by, the The Veslry of Rotherhithe Survey on the 25th March 1860 RATE, &c. MONEYS OWING TO THE Verlry DEBTS AND LIABILITIES OWING BY THE Verlry Cash Balance Uncollected Rates, &c. Contributions to be Received TOTAL Cash Balance Assessment by Metropolitan Board Loans, Mortgages, &c. Estimated value of Compensation Annuities Granted Special Contracts outstanding Tradesmen's Bills and other obligations not under Special Contracts TOTAL „ 2329 7 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 2329 7 800 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 800 „ „ Saving and General Purposes Mr. Arnold 120 „ „ 500 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 500 „ „ „ „ „ 120 „ „ Lighting 90 „ „ „ „ „ „ 90 - Survey ??? Gas Company 5 17 5 South Work Water Company 5 14 5 Baker ??? 108 11 3 „ „ 120 3 1 Servers 230 „ „ „ „ „ „ 230 „ Sondon and Bradohaner Weslmm??? Bank 18 15 „ Wilson 11 1 2 1000 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 100 „ „ Landon 10 2 „ Rent Shephord 16 4 4 14 10 „ 14 10 „ Glass borow 8 11 10 Bliss 13 2 „ Haschwood 10 19 6 Obey 12 12 3 Shleman 19 „ 6 Boybes 15 „ „ 135 8 7 £ 3039 8 8 £ 2300 „ „ 2264 Verlry of the Parish of Rotherhihe Survey ACCOUNT IN ABSTRACT OF RECEIPT AND EXPENDITURE, Year ending 25th March, 1860 , TOGETHER WITH A SUMMARY STATEMENT OF ALL CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO, AND WORKS COMMENCED AND COMPLETED DURING THE YEAR, AND OF THE MONEYS OWING- TO, AND DEBTS OWING BY, THE Veslry ON THE 25th MARCH, 1860. JOHN SMITH 8c Co., CONTRACTORS TO THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OP WORKS. We Robert Shanach Bartholomew Rohoow, William Matthew Marshall and folw Woodley the Auditors appointed by the Pensioners of the ??? of Rotherheshe on the comely of Survey to examine and audit the accounts of the Verlry of the Parsh of Rotherheshe in the comely of Survey for the year ending 25th March, 1860, having carefully and diligently examined and investigated the accounts of the said Verlry for the period aforesaid, and the vouchers in support of the same; and the books, papers, instruments, and writings, in their custody or control relating thereto, do hereby certify and declare, that We have this day audited the said accounts of the said Verlry at the Board Room at the Workhouse Rothesmith in the County of Survey in the presence of the following viz.:— Robert Shamack. Chairman Bartholomew Reboot, William Mathers and folw Woodley Smith and that the said accounts are true and correct in all particulars: and We do allow the same accordingly, and sign the same in token of such our allowance thereof. Given under our hands this Fifth day of May 1860. t ___ AUDITORS. Office— 61 Paradise Street Rothshithe Verlry of the Parish of Rotherhishe Survey ACCOUNT IN ABSTEACT, SHOWING THE RECEIPT AND EXPENDITURE, Year ending 25th March, 1860. Under the "Metropolis Local Management Act," 18 and 19 Victoriæ, Cap. 120. RATE, &c CASH BALANCE at commencement of Year RECEIPTS DURING THE YEAR PAYMENTS DURING THE YEAR CASH BALANCE on they 25th March, 1860 Rates, &c. Contributions, &c Loans, &c. Incidentals Total Assessments by Metropolitan Board Works Establishment Loans, &c. Contingencies Lighting Total In Credit In Debt In Credit In Debt £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 1045 7 4 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 1045 7 4 Parsers Labor Salaries Interest 2329 7 Paving Lighting and General Purposes 3236 7 3 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 3236 7 3 405 „ 1 503 „ 22 „ 8 „ „ 22 „ 8 Day Labor Commission Gas and water Companies 361 18 7 93 8 9 Cartage Rent Peras??? 271 „ 192 5 6 10 „ 20 „ „ 20 „ Rent Stone Accounts 33 10 „ 448 9 7 136 17 9 Sundries ??? Bura Values 15 2 „ 319 12 „ 42 14 „ 45 „ 788 6 6 „ „ „ „ „ „ Seavenger „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 273 15 Accounts 206 1 7 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 1930 4 4 795 7 9 Lighting lidef year 10 25 March 1860 812 1 10/2 812 1 10/2 792 7 9 1587 12 6 Commission 20 18 7 20 18 7 Servers 4744 9 10/2 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 4744 9 10/2 1907 „ 6 „ „ 1907 6 . ??? 221 8 9 Interest Labor 50 16 5 117 7 8 298 „ 5 Galleyo Cartage „ „ „ „ „ 2550 16 5 13 2 147 7 8 Account 26 9 3 559 5 2000 „ 2000 „ Salaries 400 ,, „ Commission 130 7 5 59 11 8 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 589 19 1 £ 12305 6 „ £ 9975 19 SUMMARY STATEMENT OF ALL CONTRACTS Entered into by the in the Year ending 25th March, 185 , and of all Contracts subsisting at the commencement of that Year, and continued during the same, and of the Works Commenced and Completed in the Year ending 25th March, 185 , and the Works remaining in Progress at the termination of the same Year. CONTRACTS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF SPECIAL WORKS. date of contract locality name of contractor Quantity of Work, agreed to be Constructed contract price Quantity of Work Commenced and Completed during the Year Amount of Extra and Additional Works beyond Sum provided in Contract Amount of Deductions and Omissions from Contract Actual Cost of Work Observations Length, &c. Size, &c. Contract Sum Amount provided for Extras Total Length, &c. Size, &c. SEWERS RATE. 0 Verlry the Parish of Rotherhithe Survey CONTRACTS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF GENERAL WORKS AND SUPPLY OF MATERIALS, Subsisting at the Commencement of, or entered into, during the Year ending 25th March, . RATE, &c. Date of Contract Name of Party with whom Contract was made Nature of Works to be Performed, and Materials to be Supplied Observations Paving Lighting bleansing and General Purposes 10th October 1858 The Survey Commerce Gas Company For lighting public Lamps at £4 15 0 each per annum entered into for three years from 29th September 1857 12th November 1859 Samuel Wright Scavenging and Dueling at £270 per annum „ are year from 17th November 1859 7th March 1860 Benjamin Butt Printing and Stationery as per Schedule of prices „ are year from 25th March 1860 13th March 1860 Alfred Thomas Hobman Team Here and cartage 13th March 1860 A & H. Mannelle Supply of Germany ditto ditto 13th March 1860 W. and T.N. Gladdish Supply of Stone and ground Lena ditto ditto Severs 13th March 1860 William Kent General falling Works as per Schedule of prices ditto ditto Veslry of the Parish of Rotherhishe Survey GENERAL ABSTRACT OF WORKS Executed under Contracts, Agreements, &c., for Special and General Works, Year ending 25th March, . sewers rate construction Repairs and Alterations to Sewers, Gullies, &c. Cleansing, including Flushing, Casting, Lifting, Cartage and Repairs caused thereby Incidental Works Improvement Works TOTAL COST BRICK SEWERS COST PIPE SEWERS COST Openings to Sewers COST SIZE IRON STONEWARE Side Entrances Air& flushing Shafts Gullies Drain Mouths Flaps SIZE 12" 9" 6" 4" Feet Feet Feet Feet Feet Feet Feet. Feet Feet Feet Feet Feet Feet Feet £ s. d. Feet Feet Feet Feet Feet Feet Feet Feet £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s d. £ S. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 3x2 100 48 9 7 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 48 9 7 170 22 13 4 361 36 2 „ 364 25 15 8 14 16 4 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 85 4 • 4 12 „ 3 2 6 9 11 49 9 38 8 10 „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 64 7 9 22 2 5 „ „ „ „ „ 22 2 5 . 319 18 9 12 2 11 12 2 11 £ 552 18 9 ' Vestry of the Parish of Ratherhith furrey GENERAL ABSTRACT OF WORKS Executed under Contracts, Agreements, &c., for Special and General Works, Year ending 25th March, 1860 . Lighting rate ??? ??? ??? ' TOTAL The furry commenced gas company 789 17 3 " " " " " " " " " " " " 789 17 3 Mr. 13 Ackland 2 7 6 "! " " " '" " " " 2 7 6 Mr. b. R ??? ??? 20 18 7 " " " " " " 20 18 7 £813 3 4 Vestry of the Parish of Ratherhith furrey GENERAL ABSTRACT OF WORKS Executed under Contracts, Agreements, &c., for Special and General Works, Year ending 25th March, 1860. GENERAL RATE Paving Lighting Watering Cleansing Improving Removing Dust Total Footway Carriageway Paviours and Masono employed b y the Vestry 223 2 3 " " " " " " " " " " " " " 223 2 3 181 17 10 " " " "'' " " 181 7 10 Sammual wright ??? 192 5 10 Wages of day laboures and ??? " " " " " " " " " " " 361 18 7 " " " "| 554 11 1 Recovering Dust ??? " " " " " " " " " " 273 15 " 273 15 ??? Furry commenced gas company 793 " 3 ??? (Ackland, half year to 29th ??? 1859 2 7 6 " " " " " " "/ ; 705 7 9 ' £2028 6 11 Vestry of the Parish of Ratherhith furrey ACCOUNT OF MONEYS owing to, and Debts owing by, the Vestry of Ratherhith furrey on the 25th March, 1860. RATE, &c. MONEYS OWING TO THE DEBTS AND LIABILITIES OWING BY THE Vestry Cash Balance Uncollected Rates, &c. Contributions to be Received TOTAL Cash Balance Assessment by Metropolitan Board Loans, &c. Estimated value of Compensation Annuities Granted Special Contracts outstanding Tradesmen's Bills and other tions not under Special Contracts TOTAL 2329 7 " " " " " " " 2319 7 " 800 " " " " " " " " 800 " " Paving and general ??? 120 " " " " " " 120 " " ??? " " " " " 500 " " 500 " " ??? 90 " " " " " " 90 " " ffFurry commenced gas company i I' 5 17 5 ??? water company 5 14 5 Baths ??? 108 11 3 " " 120 3 1 Fevers 230 " " " " " " " 23 0 " " London and ??? Bank l i Brads haw £ 18 15 ??? 1000 " " " " " " " " " " 1000 " 11 1 2 London 10 2 ??? 16 4 4 14 10 " 14 10 " ??? 8 11 10 Bliss 13 2 " Haselwood 10 19 6 Obey 12 12 .3 shleman 19 " .6 Boyles 135 8 7 13 " " " £3039 8 8 £2300 " " ???TROPOLIS LOCAL MANAGEMENT ACT, 1855. REPORTS MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH THE VESTRY THE PARISH OF ROTHERHITHE, SURREY. From Aprril, 1859, to April, 1860 London: PRINTED BY B. BATT, POST-OFFICE, ROTHERHITHE, 1860 THIRTY-NINTH REPORT. Gentlemen, On the 4th of the elapsed mouth, a deputation from the Vestry of Rotherhithe waited on the Metropolitan Board. On the 25th of February last, a letter was addressed by the Vestry Clerk of Rotherhithe to the Clerk of the Metropolitan Board, requesting the latter to appoint a day for the reception of a deputation, which letter was never answered. It was only by the accidental circumstance of one of the Clerks in the office at Rotherhithe looking over the Agenda Paper of the Metropolitan Board, in the afternoon of the 3rd of March, that it became known that the deputation was to be received by the Metropolitan Board at noon on the following day. This unbusiness-like neglect, and want of courtesy on the part of the officials of the Metropolitan Board, was complained of by the member of the deputation who addressed that Board, and his statements were not satisfactorily answered by them. The member then recapitulated in a few sentences all that had been stated by the Medical Officer of Health of Rotherhithe in his reports to the Vestry, relating to the foul effluvia and grievous nuisance produced by the opening of air-shafts into the sewer in Paradise-row. The Chairman of the Metropolitan Board answered him to the following effect, viz.:—“That the said sewer was formerly under the control of the Commission of Sewers for Surrey and Kent, who used to attend to it and regularly cleanse it; that it afterwards fell into the hands of the authorities in Rotherhithe, who had neglected it; and that the process of cleansing, which was, at the moment he was speaking, in active operation, under the direction of the engineers of the Metropolitan Board, would do away with the nuisance complained of.” Such assertions from such an authority quite astounded the deputation, for they were all incorrect, and quite contrary to the real facts of the case, and clearly showed that the Metropolitan Board were expending the public money and cleansing the sewer, with no knowledge whatever of what had previously been done to it. The allusions of the Chairman to the past were as unfortunate as his prognostication of the future. The sewer was constructed in the year 1842, and remained under the supervision of the Commission of Sewers till January, 1856, 4 when it fell under the control of the newly-elected Vestry of Rotherhithe, and the Surveyor of Sewers for Rotherhithe, Mr. George Legg, caused it to be frequently and powerfully flushed from the neighbouring millstream, a penstock having been constructed, under his superintendence for that especial purpose (flushing), and the sewer by the process was much relieved. Previously to the control of the sewer by the Rotherhithe Vestry, and while it was under the Commission of Sewers, nothing whatever was done to it, and it was never once cleansed by them. In August, 1858, the management of the sewer was taken by the Metropolitan Board, and the air-shafts were then constructed, since which the whole line of street through which the sewer passes is often filled with poisonous and pestilential vapours. So much for the past. I am sorry to say that the Chairman's anticipations of the future have also proved themselves to be founded on imperfect data, as the gases evolved from the air-shafts of that part of the sewer which has been cleansed, are now as bad as they were before the sewer was cleansed at all by the Metropolitan Board, a fact which was foretold by me in one of my previous reports to this Vestry. The truth being, that the filthy stenches are not evolved from the deposit at the bottom of the sewer, but from the surface of the liquid in the sewer, which, owing to the peculiar construction of its channel, and to the outlet being higher than the sewer itself, stagnates therein ten hours out of twelve every day. I consider that, as Medical Officer of Health to this Parish, I should not be doing my duty to my fellow-parishioners, were I to let this matter drop; and I will never let it drop, until some means be used to remedy the terrific nuisance arising from the abovementioned air-shafts. It appears to be a rule of the Metropolitan Board, that only one member of a deputation is allowed to address them. A member of the Rotherhithe deputation (not the original spokesman), ignorant of this rule, attempted to make a few observations, when, instead of quietly informing him that he was out of order, an effort was made by the gentlemen of the Metropolitan Board to cry him down, and a scene of indescribable uproar ensued. The Chairman hammered, and the gentlemen of the Board vocferated and clamoured, and certainly a bystander at that moment would not have been forcibly struck, either with the business-like habits, or dignified bearing of the elect of the various parishes of this great Metropolis. On Saturday, 2nd April, the Vestry-Clerk and myself waited on John Locke, Esq., Q.C., and member of Parliament for the Borough of Southwark, with a petition to the House of Commons from this Vestry, concerning the air-shafts in the Deptford-road Sewer. He promised that it should be duly presented. Several complaints were made to me last month of the stenches arising at Mr. Fisher's 5 premises in Rotherhithe-street, from the manufacture of patent manure. The manufacture was carried on during the night. These premises are too small and too confined for the processes connected with patent manure making to be carried out without annoyance to the neighbourhood, a notice was served, and the nuisance has ceased for the present. I have frequently visited the Burial Ground of All Saints, and have always found the graves of the depth recommended by the Trustees. Thirty-four death's were registered last month, showing a mortality considerably under the average. The Parish is at this moment healthy, and remarkably free from epidemic disease. Yours respectfully, April, 1859. W. MURDOCH. FORTIETH REPORT. Gentlemen, At that part of Rotherhithe where the Brighton and Greenwich lines of Railway diverge from each other, eight or nine arches of the former (Brighton) have been let to a patent-manure maker. Passengers arriving from Greenwich or London at the Commercial Dock Station are continually complaining of the foul effluvia evolved from those arches. During the past month they have been frequently visited by the Inspector of Nuisances and myself. All sorts of filthy substances are accumulated under them, bones, horns, hoofs, pigeon's dung, fish and hair with the animal matter adhering to it, just as it is scraped off the hides by the tanners, and the heaps of these substances smell very disagreeably, and when in the process of manufacture of manure, sulphuric acid is poured upon them and powdered coprolite, an indescribably suffocative stench arises. Under the Railway Arches this is done in an open wooden vessel. I have frequently expressed my opinion to this Board as to the manufacture of manure, viz.: that it can only be tolerated on large open premises, in closed vessels, with a proper apparatus to burn the exhaled gases and a high shaft to carry off the products of the combustion. None of these conditions exist under the Railway Arches. A notice was served, which was followed by a summons. Under the arches Nos. 512, 513, and 514 of the Greenwich Railway, there is an accumulation of sugar scum, and greaves or refuse from the soap-boilers, which smells offensively. The arch No. 469 is peculiarly situated, half of it being in Deptford and half in 6 Rotherhithe. The boundary line of the two parishes passing right through the middle of the arch. Under it there is a heap of scutch or stinking offal from the glue makers. These arches will be attended to. On the premises of Messrs. Miller and Johnson, in Rotherhithestreet, north side near the Noah’s Ark, patent manure is manufactured, considerable expense has been incurred at this place to prevent any nuisance from arising; but owing to defects in the apparatus for consuming the exhaled gases, stenches are often given off which are smelt along Rotherhithe-street, when the wind blows from any northern point. The defects are the following. The gases which tend naturally to rise from the mixer, have with the present construction of the apparatus, to descend before they reach the fire. The fire itself is not strong enough, and is often put out by the large quantity of gases generated, which therefore escapes unburnt into the shaft and causes a nuisance. The remedy would be to elevate the fire, and increase its power, and above all, to raise the shaft twenty or thirty feet, so that the vapours exhaled may be carried above the roofs of the neighbouring houses. Messrs. Miller and Johnson have promised that ere long they will effect these changes. At No. 6, 7, and 8, Neptune-street, the drainage is imperfect. Thirty-seven deaths were registered last month, among them were two from typhoid fever, one from hooping-cough, and one from diphtheria. This last complaint has hitherto been of comparatively rare occurrence in Rotherhithe. The Parish is at this moment healthier than it generally is at this time of the year. Yours respectfully, May, 1859. W. MURDOCH. FORTY-FIRST REPORT. Gentlemen, During the last two months a constant and active surveillance has been exercised over the various businesses carried on under the Railway Arches in Rotherhithe. As fast as one nuisance is suppressed, another springs up, and unless your officers have the cordial co-operation of the Railway Companies it will be exceedingly difficult to eradicate these nuisances. The occupier of nine arches of the Brighton Railway, a manure manufacturer, was summoned to the Greenwich Police Court, and after two adjournments, fined five pounds. Hes ha since lime-washed the inside of the arches, got rid of the stinking pig's hair, and erected a close apparatus for making the manure, causing the refuse gases to pass through a solution of 7 ulphate of iron. The apparatus was tried before me, and certainly ???ery little smell arose during the operation, but I cannot commit ???nyself so far as to say that none will arise therefrom. The place is indoubtedly much improved. The occupier of the Arches 512, 513, 514, was also summoned, and on Friday, 3rd June, the magistrate issued an order that the whole accumulation of sugar-scum under the above-named arches should be removed in two months. This length of time was granted on account of the quantity of accumulated stuff being upwards of a thousand tons. The occupier has promised to use deodorizers while removing it. Under the arch 569, I found a person boiling linseed oil in two open pots. The stench was nauseating. A notice was served, and It a promise obtained that this process shall not be renewed. Oil boiling is practised to a great extent in the fields round about the Railway Arches, but as it is done principally at night, the persons occasioning the nuisance have not yet been discovered. In the Arch 480, a large accumulation of wet scutch or refuse from the glue-makers was detected by the smell and the swarms of flies hovering about the place. A notice has been served. Considerable numbers of wet skins are brought over from Bermondsey into Rotherhithe Parish, and laid under the Railway Arches to dry. The smell from them in hot weather is extremely offensive. The Inspector has been instructed to make enquiries as to the owners of them, a fact not easily ascertained, as I suspect the arches are often occupied by these persons without any rental being paid for them. The state of Garden-row, Debenham-road, has been often brought before this Vestry, the liquid sewage running in streams from the closets down the gardens. One man was growing radishes in the sewage from his own privy. The practice of open mixing having occurred at Bull Head Wharf, and fetid vapours having been evolved into the street, I caused a notice to be served on the occupier of the premises. Since the last monthly meeting of this Board, the Committee of Gas supply inquiry has been twice called together. Star-corner, Bermondsey, has been chosen as the most appropriate locality for erecting a gas-testing apparatus, because, the mains of the three Companies, namely, the Phoenix, the Surrey Consumers', and the South Metropolitan, all converge towards that point. The proceedings of the Committee will be duly laid before you in my monthly reports. Sickness and Mortality. The small-pox, from which no death had taken place in Rotherhithe during eighteen months, has again made its appearance among 8 us. In my own practice no severe case has come under observ???tion, but two children, each two years of age, have been register as having died from confluent variola. The small pox has certainly much decreased iu Rotherhithe si??? public vaccinators have been appointed. Notwithstanding the presence of this fearful malady, the Paris has been for some months past, and still continues, remarkabl??? healthy. The deaths in May were thirty-two—eight under the average, an in the four weeks ending 24th May, only forty-two medical order were granted, being about half the average number usually given i four weeks. It is a matter of public notoriety, that the sanitary condition ??? this Parish is gradually ameliorating. In the first three months ??? t he year 1858, there were two hundred and sixteen births, and on hundred and sixty-six deaths in Rotherhithe, showing an increase ??? sixty. During the same period in 1859, namely, from January Is to March 31st, there were registered two hundred and five births am one hundred and sixteen deaths, showing an increase of eighty nine. Now if we compare the deaths only of the two periods, we shal find that fifty more took place in the three first months of 1858 than, in the same space of time in 1859, and that too among an increasing population. No general conclusions can be drawn from such a comparison, the rise and fall of disease depending often upon causes unknown to man, and perhaps we might be accused of taking to ourselves presumptuously too much credit were I to say that the present desirable state of things may in some measure be attributed to the better drainage, better water supply, and to the slowly but steadily improvement in the education of the lower classes, and good habits therefrom resulting. Yours respectfully, June, 1859. W. MURDOCH. FORTY-SECOND REPORT. Gentlemen, Complaints are repeatedly made to the officers of this Vestry of the noxious gases and vapours arising from the Union Chemical Works, near Union-road, Rotherhithe. Two products are fabricated at those works, namely, sulphuric acid, and hydrochloric acid, 9 ???rly oil of vitriol and spirits of salt). I shall speak here of the ???tter only, as it causes the greater nuisance, the former having been ???equently alluded to in my previous reports. The process of making hydrochloric acid is the following. An ???on pot, about eighteen inches deep and three feet in diameter, is ???tted into brickwork over a furnace, the whole resembling much a ommon washhouse copper for boiling dirty linen. In this vessel, ???ne hundred and sixty-eight lbs. of sulphuric acid, one hundred and ???ixty-eight lbs. of common salt are mixed. The vessel is then covered ???ith a stone lid, into which is fixed a pipe of potters’ ware, about two ???ches and a-half in diameter, and four feet long, and communicating, ???t its farther end, with four twenty-gallon cylindrical vessels, also of ???otters' ware, and about one-third tilled with water. Heat is applied ???rom the furnace, decomposition of the salt takes place, and the ???ydrochloric acid passes over in the state of vapour from the iron ???essel into the receivers, where it mixes with and is dissolved in the water they contain. At the end of about nine hours the operation ??? finished. The whole is then allowed to cool for five hours, the ???ceivers are afterwards emptied of their acid contents. Sulphate of ???oda being found in the iron vessel. There are six such apparatus as that above-described, on the ???remises in the open air. The nuisance arises from two causes, 1st.—The leakage of the ???pparatus, although the joints are carefully luted, the hydrochloric ???cid vapour attenuated by the heat escapes, and there is always a ???mell of it on and about, the premises.—2nd.—The charging of the? ???easel. When the lid of the iron pot is taken off to empty it and re???harge it, all the acid vapour contained in the apparatus is disengaged ???uto the air, and the smell of it can be perceived at some distance ???rom the factory, according to the direction of the wind. This vapour ???s highly injurious to vegetable life, withering and destroying the ???maller shrubs, stripping the trees of their leaves, and often killing ???hose parts of them which stand in the direction of the currents of ???ir out of the factory. It is hurtful to the health of animals and man. The untimely leath of cats, ducks and canary birds, is attributed to it, by the lady ???nhabitants of the vicinity. I have not, however, been able to obtain ???lirect proof of the truth of their assertions. When breathed by persons not accustomed to it, it causes a pasmodic choking sensation in the throat, and an irritative distress???ing cough, which the inspector and myself have both experienced ??? entering the factory, and during our stay there. To conclude, I consider the locality unfit for a chemical work of ???his nature, and if the whole were enclosed with brickwork with ???proper apparatus to carry off the acid vapour into a vessel B 10 ing milk of lime, it appears to me doubful whether even then th??? offensive smell could be entirely got rid of. The continuation of these works as they are at present, must certainly have the effect of diminishing the value of property in their immediate neighbourhood. In the Arch 513 of the Greenwich Railway, the heap of sugar scum is slowly getting less. The brickwork has been washed with chloride of lime, and the nuisance is much abated. There is under the boundary Arch 469, a heap of hair and horns, which evolves ??? very unpleasant stench. A notice has been served. There is also an accumulation of refuse from the soap-boilers under the Arch 480. No further progress has been made by the Gas Enquiry Committee since the last sitting of this Board. The filthy state of the millstream, Jamaica Level, and the smells therefrom arising at low-water, when the mud all reeking with organic matter, is exposed to the summer sun, are matters of daily observation, Foul effluvia still often arise from the air-shafts in Paradise Row. On the morning of the 23rd June, the sickening stench was as bad as during the winter months. The overflowing cesspoools at Dunn's Cottages, have again necessitated the serving of a notice. The water supply has been, during the last fortnight, exceedingly scanty in this Parish. Thirty-five deaths from all causes, were registered last month. The Parish is in a very healthy state at this present time (30th June, 1859). Yours respectfully, July, 1859. W. MURDOCH. FORTY-THIRD REPORT. Gentlemen, On Friday, 29th July, a Committee of the whole Vestry met at the Union Chemical Works, Uuion Road, Rotherhithe. The object of the meeting was to examine the state of the premises, and also that the members of the Board might, by personal inspection, enquire into the causes of the noxious smells so often complained of by the inhabitants in the neighbourhood of the factory. A resolution was passed by the meeting to the effect that a month should be given to the proprietor of the works to make certain alterations, and that on Monday, 29th August, the place should be re-visited by the Committee. 11 The occupier of the Railway Arch No. 469, and the occupier of ???e Arches 479, 480, and 481, were respectively summoned to the ???reen which Police Court, on account of accumulations of scutch ???der the above-named Arches. The hearing took place on the ???6th July, and an order of removal in each case was obtained from ???e sitting Magistrate. Ten days after, on the 26th July, I again ???spected the Arches and found that the heap in 469 had been covered with salt, and the heap under the Arch 480 had been only partially ???moved. The nuisance in both still existing. My attention shall ??? further devoted to this matter, as it appears to me that the ???agistrate's order ought to be strictly carried out. A notice has been served on the person who sends from Ber???ondsey putrid and wet skins to be dried under the Railway Arches Rotherhithe. No. 2, Victoria Place, Deptford Road, is tenanted by dealer in cats' meat, dogs' meat, rags, bones, &c., &c. The offal of is numerous callings had accumulated in the back-yard, and caused a ???uisance; a notice was served and the evil has been remedied. The water supply in Rotherhithe, during the early part of July, ???as very scanty. No place suffered more from the deficiency, than Clare Hall Cottages, and Clare Hall Place, Jamaica Level. The ???habitants having been without supply sometimes for three and four ???lays consecutively. On the 23rd July, the temperature being 83° in the shade, I ???escended into the vaults under St. Mary's Church. The vaults had ???ot been opened for the admission of any person since they were visited in January last by the Government Inspector and myself. On entering the vault the sensation was rather pleasant than otherwise, the cool air of the place contrasting gratefully with the sultriness of the atmosphere outside. There was no smell whatever. Mr. Nowne, who accompanied me, on my interrogating him whether he had ever observed any leakage from the coffins in the vault, replied, that he never saw any but once, and that it disappeared in twenty-four hours. The admirable ventilation would cause any fluid rapidly to evaporate, and the gaseous product to be carried up the air-shafts. The first six months of the present year were remarkably healthy, the mortality in this Parish having been twenty-five per cent, lower than during the corresponding months of the year 1858. The just elapsed month, however, has been unhealthy, diarrhoea having been exceedingly prevalent, and having occasioned thirteen deaths, out of forty-nine registered. This may, in some measure, be attributed to the high temperature which reigned during the whole month. On two occasions the thermometer rose to 90°, and the average temperature of the month was 78°, or eight degrees above that of July, 1858, when it only averaged 70°. The high temperature has undoubtedly 12 rendered the miasmata from the ponds and ditches in Rotherhithe, more subtile and injurious to health, for in this matter we arc peculiarly situated, our southern boundary is the Thames which washes our shore to the extent of nearly two miles, on the east we have the stinking Surry Millstream, and on the west, the black ditch or Earle Sewer. Yours respectfully, August, 1859. W. MURDOCH. FORTY-FOURTH REPORT. Gentlemen, In my previous reports to this Board, I have frequently expressed the opinion that chemical and other factories, from which noxious gases and vapours may at times be exhaled, ought not to be established in a populous neighbourhood; and if by any chance they be established in such a locality, it is the duty of the proprietor of the works to use all the available means which science can suggest or devise for the mitigation and suppression of the nuisances originating from the processes carried on in the factories. The Union Chemical Works, for the fabrication of sulphuric and hydrochloric acids, stand in the midst of a crowded population, and I do not consider that sufficient care has been taken to prevent the stenches arising on the premises from diffusing themselves around, and becoming a nuisance to the inhabitants. On the 29th July, these works were, visited by a Committee of the whole Vestry, and as they, the Committee, found that the distillation of the hydrochloric acid, was done in a building without sides, and merely covered with tiles, it was recommended that it should be enclosed with brickwork, and the meeting adjourned for a month. On the 29th August, much to the surprise and annoyance of the gentlemen present at the adjourned meeting, they found the building in the same state as before, no alteration whatever having been made in its structure. Certain facts, however, transpired as to the future destination of these works, which caused the meeting again to adjourn for another month. Let me add here, that although the inhabitants still occasionally complain, sulphuric acid is no longer made on the premises, and consequently, the sulphurous smells have entirely disappeared. The vapour of muriatic acid escaping by leakage, or at the moment of uncharging the iron pots, is the nuisance existing at this present time. The Railway Arches in Rotherhithe are now tolerably free from nuisance. Under the Arch 568, the Inspector detected on Saturday, 13 ???d September, a person boiling a few gallons of linseed oil, the ???pour of which is exceedingly unpleasant. I contented myself with friendly remonstrance, which often has a better effect than an ???ficial notice. A large quantity of damaged grain, the salvage from ???fire, has been deposited in Debenham’s ground, near the Railway, ???emits after rain an acid odour. As it is being gradually carted way, I thought interference unnecessary. Among the houses mentioned in the Agenda Paper, three deserve ???ecial attention. At No. 395, Rotherhithe-street, a blacksmith's ???op, the drainage has no outlet at all, the whole of it being dis???arged into a large cesspool, enclosed within the walls of the ???liming. At 396, Rotherhithe-street, the Black Bull public-house, ??? at 1, West-lane, a cooperage, there are cesspools in the back ???rds, but the superficial drainage runs into the street. Notices ???ve been served. The elapsed month, August, has been one of the most unhealthy the current year, fifty-two deaths having been registered; among ???em twelve from diarrhoea, three from scarlatina, two from fever, ???d one from diphtheria, at No. 3, Glebe-terrace, just where one ???ht expect to find such a disease, on the bank of the pestilential ???tch, called the Surrey Millstream. Yours respectfully, September, 1859. W. MURDOCH. FORTY-FIFTH REPORT. Gentlemen, During the elapsed summer, I received several anonymous comnications, all written evidently by one person, and of which the ???hor was, that a smokehouse on the premises of Mr. Pearson, fish???nnger, No. 363, Rotherhithe-wall, emitted foul smells and was a ???usance to the neighbourhood. No notice was taken of complaints ???nde in this underhand manner. On the 13th September, a letter ???s addressed to the Vestry Clerk of this parish from the Local ???ernment Act Office, to the effect that Mrs. Moody, of 365, btherhithe-wall, had declared her health to be suffering in conse???ence of the effluvia arising from the above-named smokehouse. This letter led to an investigation. The smokehouse is situated in the back-yard of No. 363, about ???enty feet from the dwelling; it is composed of two chambers or ???ipartments, each twelve feet high, four feet and a-half deep, and tree feet and a-half wide, the lower part of the chambers being of C 14 brick, and the upper of wood. Each chamber is surmounted by chimney about four feet in height. These measures are all give approximately. On the floor of each compartment a smouldering smoky fire fe??? with oak sawdust is kept burning, and the fish to be smoke (haddocks and herrings) are suspended in rows across the chamber The place has been visited six times by me; and the process of fig smoking was each time in full operation. I never could perceiv any smell on or about the premises (except the smell from the fish i stock), and complaint of nuisance has never been made by any othe person but Mrs. Moody. However, it may be, that the smo??? arising from the low chimneys may cause annoyance by drifting wi??? certain winds against the windows of the adjacent houses. smokehouse in every respect similar to the one above-describee??? exists at Mr. R. Challoner’s, fishmonger, No. 351, Rotherhithe-wal??? and has never been complained of. Twelve applications have been made for licenses for slaughter houses. Eleven of these had been already licensed. The slaughter house of Mr. Newham, butcher, Rotherhithe-street, is in the cours??? of erection at the back of his house, and having seen the plans a??? examined the drainage, I should submit to the Board, that a licens??? be granted to him, as well as to the eleven others. The Government order with regard to the vaults under St??? Mary's Church is now being carried out, under the surveillance o??? the Churchwardens and Medical Officer of Health. As this subjec??? will be again brought under notice of the Vestry, I need only say a present, that hitherto the work has proceeded without accident, and has been conducted with decorum and propriety. The owners of the piggeries near the Railway Arches were respectively summoned to Greenwich, and the magistrate’s order wa??? obtained for an abatement of the nuisance. No cleanliness car ever prevent places tenanted by thirty or forty hogs, and badly drained, from exhaling unpleasant smells during the summer months I give this as my own opinion, and must leave to the Board to take what further steps they may think necessary. Notices have been served in the other cases mentioned in the Agenda Paper. Twenty-one persons died in Rotherhithe during September, about half the number usually registered in a month, and the smallest monthly mortality yet reported by me since the first formation of this Vestry. The Parish of Rotherhithe is at present remarkably healthy and free from epidemic disease. (30th of September, 1859.) Yours respectfully, October, 1859. W. MURDOCH. 15 FORTY-SIXTH REPORT. Gentlemen, During the month of May last, an Order in Council was received ??? the Parish authorities of Rotherhithe to the effect that, "1st. The coffins in the public vaults beneath the Parish Church of St. Mary, Rotherhithe, be covered with fresh earth and concrete, and ???hat the existing entrance be bricked up. 2nd. That the works be ???ffected under the superintendence of the Medical Officer of Health of the district, and that Mr. Dougal’s powder, chlorine, or other ???isinfectants be used whenever necessary.” The Churchwardens very properly postponed the carrying out of ???his order till the hotter months of summer had passed away, and in ???he meanwhile caused advertisements to be inserted in the newspapers, warning the public, that any one wishing to have a coffin removed from the vaults, must make application before the 1st of September of the current year. One application was made, but no ???ffin was removed. On the 12th of September, the work was commenced; and it was ???oon found that the number of coffins contained in the vaults had ???een much underrated, that instead of a thousand as stated in one of ???nv previous reports, between sixteen and seventeen hundred had been deposited there. The first part of the process consisted in carefully placing the coffins on the floor, as close to each other as possible, a second tier was then laid above them, and in some places ??? third. Here was the difficult and dangerous part of the labour, ???or in lifting the old leaden coffins many of them cracked, and long ???ent-up fetid gases were exhaled, extinguishing the lights in the ???ands of the men, and making them hurriedly retreat from the spot. By the use of disinfectants these difficulties were surmounted, and ???o accident happened. After the coffins had been thus arranged, gravel was thrown in to fill up the interstices between them, and form a first coating over them; eighteen inches of concrete was placed above the gravel, so that the upper surface in a very short space of time became as hard and as solid as a macadamized road. All apertures leading into the vaults were then bricked up, with the exception of the air-shafts, which open on the coping of the wall, thirty-four feet above the level of the churchyard. The whole work was conducted with decorum and propriety, and the most fastidious person could not have found fault with anything that transpired. When any wooden coffins were found broken up, the remains of the dead were carefully gathered together and placed in shells. 16 The bodies in the wooden coffins were dry and mummified, consisting of withered skin and bones, the whole of the intermediate flesh being converted into a brown coffee-like powder. In the very few leaden coffins, of which we had an opportunity of inspecting the contents from accidental bursting, the organs of the body were moist and saponified, preserving their form and position, and easily recognizable in a coffin which had been deposited under the church for half a century. The teeth and hair were always perfect, and the tissues of linen and cotton, in which the corpses had been wrapped, were generally in good condition. In a private vault, we found a coffin one hundred and twenty years old; in the public vault, one ninety-nine years old; and, against the wall of the northern vault, a tombstone clamped with iron, and bearing date July, 1712. It was not without some emotion, that, when perusing the inscriptions on the coffin-lids, we read the names of families formerly flourishing in this parish, nearly all whose members had become extinct; and we recognized the last narrow resting-place of men known to us in our childhood, who, as inhabitants of this parish, walked honourably and uprightly in their day, with credit to themselves and benefit to their fellow-parishioners. During the progress of the work, the vaults were frequently visited by strangers and parishioners, and they one and all expressed their satisfaction at the quiet and masterly manner in which the whole was executed. The Churchwardens were assisted in their duty by a committee of gentlemen, who were most assiduous in their attendance. Many complaints have been made to me by the inhabitants of the Deptford Lower-road, of the crowded state of the cemetery attached to All Saints' Church. About four hundred bodies have been buried there since my last Report on the subject to this Board, in November, 1858. As a measure of sanitary precaution, I should recommend that the cemetery be at once closed; and I must express, at the same time, the conviction, that to keep it open any longer would be an outrage upon public feeling. A gully on the east side of Clarence-street exhaled noxious effluvia; trapping would effectually remedy the evil. My attention has been called to the linseed oil boiling carried on under and near the Railway Arches. The locality is frequently visited by your officers, and in due time measures will be taken for the suppression of the nuisance. Notices have been served in the other cases mentioned in the Agenda Paper. Thirty-eight deaths were registered in Rotherhithe during last month. 17 One infant, unvaccinated, died from smallpox, in Upper Queen met. Yours respectfully, November, 1859. W. MURDOCH. FORTY-SEVENTH REPORT. Gentlemen, During the past month, two minor reports, in the form of iters, were addressed by me to the Vestry Clerk. The first, which was read at a meeting of the Overseers, related the premises of Mr. Kemp, varnish maker, Clare Hall-place, pre???ses on which, a short time previously, a fire had occurred. After ???refill examination of the place, I submitted to the Overseers the ???ppriety of not interfering with Mr. Kemp's business, as the shed ???ere the varnishes are mixed is completely isolated from the suronding dwellings, and no person in the neighbourhood had ???nplained of any nuisance arising from the processes employed by ???e manufacturer. At the same time, I remarked, that the most dangerous part of ft premises appeared to be the spot where the fire actually did ???eak out, namely, the stable, which was full of straw, and other ???ch material, at the time of my visit. (The second report was read at the adjourned meeting of this Vestry, and concerned the fish-smoking carried on at No. 363, Retherhithe-wall. It is, therefore, unnecessary to repeat the details; ???tfice it to say, that in the back-yard of the complainant, Mrs. ???ody, a pig was found grunting. A pig-notice was, therefore, ???ved, and the animal has since been removed. It ought, also, to mentioned that fish-frying is carried on to a very considerable ???tent in-the complainant's house; and although the smell of such ???nking may not be injurious to health, it is certainly anything but ???sant to the nostrils of passengers along Rotherhithe-wall. The complaints made against the smokehouse at No. 363 appear ???volous; and unless they proceed from some other quarter than ???herto, unworthy of the attention of the parish authorities. The Railway Arches have been several times visited by your ???cers, and, as far as Rotherhithe is concerned, seem freer from ???isance than they have yet been. One of the worst-smelling of the air-shafts, opening into the ???er in Paradise-row, viz., that one opposite the house No. 28, ???s been recently closed by order of the Metropolitan Board. This ???y be considered as an earnest of a better state of things, and 18 probably, ere long, some other method of ventilating the sewers will be discovered than that of letting out noxious gases wholesale into every thoroughfare, thereby infecting the atmosphere of the whole of London with the very vapours which the Metropolitan Board themselves admit to be the most subtle and dangerous to health o??? all poisons. I believe that the closing of the air-shaft above-named, and th??? previous diminution of the size of the air-gratings in Paradise-row are mainly attributable to the reiterated and energetic protests mad??? to the Central Board by this Vestry. Notices have been served in the other cases of imperfect drainag??? mentioned in the Agenda Paper. Forty-three deaths were registered in Rotherhithe during November, nine of which were caused by scarlatina, which was, and is, still prevalent. There have been, also, a few cases of mild smallpox; but no death has taken place from that malady. Yours respectfully, December, 1859. W. MURDOCH. FORTY-EIGHTH REPORT. Gentlemen, During the spring and early part of the summer of last year numerous complaints were made of the stenches arising from ??? premises of Messrs. Miller and Johnson, patent manure makers,— premises situated on the north side of Rotherhithe-street, near th Noah's Ark. Some expense had been incurred, and precautions h??? been taken, to prevent a nuisance, by causing the vapours generate in the mixing apparatus to pass through a coke fire previously t??? their arrival into the shaft; but the vapours proved to be incombus??? tible, and, instead of the fire decomposing them, they put out th??? fire, and, escaping from the shaft, and cooling in the open atmo??? phere, fell often in large quantities in the immediate neighbourhood of the factory, and were carried by the wind to some distance, t??? the great annoyance of the inmates of the surrounding houses, an of the passengers along Rotherhithe-street. I suggested to th manufacturers to change altogether their modus operandi, and t??? make the tube from the mixer plunge into a tank of water, and, i??? the water did not effectually absorb the gases, to add sulphate ??? iron to the liquid. They entered at once into my views, and during the last three weeks have made experiments on the plan recommend 19 [???]I me. As no complaints have reached my ear, 1 am naturally led [???](conclude that the nuisance is much abated. Proper surveillance, [???]Iwever, shall be exercised over this place, the spirit of this Board [???]ling, not to disturb wantonly any man in the exercise of his calling, [???]It at the same time, they have a duty to perform towards the iu[???]jbitants, who have much suffered from these patent manure factories, [???]i The intense frost prevalent during part of last month (the tlier[???]■umeter having fallen, in the morning of the 19th December, at [???]1a.m., in the Tunnel-yard, to 14° or 18° below the freezing point), [???]Id the good effect of suppressing foul effluvia. Four notices have [???]Jen served, one on each of the owners respectively of the houses [???]fcntioned in the Agenda Paper. [???]f'The miserably scanty supply of water from the Southwark Water [???]tmipany; and the time which elapses before water can be procured [???]Dm them in cases of fire in Rotherhithe, have been frequently [???]Jought before the parish authorities. The latter circumstance, dating to accidental fires, I shall merely mention, as it is not imediately connected with my duties, and has been noticed in the [???]Ifcal journal; but as an abundant supply of water conduces not only [???]ft the cleanliness and comfort, but also to the health of all classes, [???]ihall never fail, while holding the responsible office of Medical Officer [???]i Health, to bring it under your notice. In a letter addressed to [???]e by Mr. Slipper on the 2nd current, that gentleman states that [???]s tenants in Glebe-terrace; and also the inhabitants of Clare Hall[???]Htages, Jamaica-level, have been ten days without water supply. [???]] The elapsed month, December, 1859, has been one of the most [???]fckly of the year. The mortality has been augmented by the scarlet [???]!ver, which has steadily extended itself since the month of Septern[???]:r. Thus, in October, three deaths were recorded as having been [???]roduced by that cause; in November, nine; and in December, [???]furteen—the focus of the complaint being Swan-lane and the adja- [???]Int streets. In the lower part of the parish, very few cases have [???]therto appeared. The year 1859 was, upon the whole, a healthy [???]le. Four hundred aud eighty deaths were registered in Rother[???]Ithe from January 1st to December 31st, 1859, which, taking the [???]ppulation at twenty-one thousand, would show a death-rate of about [???]venty-two in the thousand, or about the average mortality of this [???]metropolis. During the same period, there were eight hundred and [???]fty-four births, showing an excess of three hundred and seventy-four Births over the deaths. Of the births, four hundred and twenty were males, and four hundred and thirty-four females. Of the deaths, two hundred and sixty[???]ve were males, and two hundred and fifteen females. Thus we see, that in Rotherhithe last year, fourteen more females [???]ere bom than males, the contrary being the rate for the whole 20 population ; but fifty more male3 died than females, which is acconting to the general law, the mortality being always greater among t. ;[???] stronger sex. More males arc born in the proportion of about five per cent nature seems, by this excess, to provide for the many dangerous ar[???] fatal contingencies that the male sex is exposed to. The law is universal, more males than females being born in evei[???] nation, savage or civilised, and the excess is in the same proportic[???] everywhere; but the greater mortality among the men causes thiit i[???] every society the number of males and of females is nearly equa[???] there being, however, a slight preponderance of the latter. Yours respectfully, January, 1860. W. MURDOCH. 1 FORTY-NINTH REPORT. Gentlemen, At a special meeting of this Vestry, held on the 22nd Februar[???] 1859, the following resolution was made:—"That the Vestry joi[???] with St. Olave's District Board of Works and the Vestry of Be»[???] mondsey, in erecting an apparatus for testing the quality am[???] quantity of gas supplied in this district, and that a sum not exceet[???] ing one hundred pounds be expended in carrying the same out." 1[???] In May, 1859, the gentlemen deputed by the Vestries of tl[???] three above-named localities met at the Board-room of the St. Olave >[???] district, and formed themselves into a Committee. The intention i[???] the St. Olave's District Board, with whom the idea of erecting[???] testing apparatus first originated, was to test the gas from the Surr[???] Consumers' Company only; and in that iutention the members i-[???] the Committee from Rotherhithe entirely concurred, as the distrin[???] of St Olave's and the parish of Rotherhithe receive gas from n[???] other company. The members of the joint Committee depute[???] from Bermondsey urged, however, that as that parish was supplie[???] with gas from three different companies, it would be better to te:[???] the gas of each company, that the comparative merits of the gi[???] supplied by each might be properly examined and appreciated. In deference to the parish of Bermondsey, this proposal w[???] acceded to by the Committee, who went at once to the place (Sta[???] corner, Bermondsey) where the mains of the three companu[???] converge, to choose a proper spot for the erection of the testin[???] apparatus. A house situated at the corner of Bermondsey Churchyard, an[???] 21 [???]Mfpied by the fire-escape keeper, was chosen by unanimous con[???];(«as the fittest place for the purpose. To obtain the use of that [???]lio-e, the Churchwardens of Bermondsey were first applied to, then [???]utVestry, then the Rector, and finally, it was found, that the right [???]• -anting it was vested in the Board of Governors and Directors, [???]/[application being made to them their answer was a refusal. [???]hx months were thus frittered away in useless efforts to procure . [???]citable place for carrying out the object of the joint Committee, [???]in the 30tli January, 1860, a meeting of the members of that [???]oinittee took place, when the following motion was made and [???]uirnously voted by the gentlemen from Rotherhithe and Saint [???]ie's, there being no member from Bermondsey present. " That [???]idbrts having failed to meet the desire of the Parish of Bermond[???]n provide a testing-house, to test the gas supplied by the various [???]^anies, whose mains supply that Parish, the district of St. [???]iiie, and the Parish of Rotherhithe, do unite and proceed to take [???]rcures for the erection of a place for testing the gas supplied by [???]eSurrey Consumers' Company." Mr. Slee, clerk of the St. [???]lae District Board of Works, then mentioned that the vaults [???]itr the Vestry Hall of St. John's, would be a suitable place for gas[???]#g; those vaults were visited by all the members of the Com[???]ifee present, and as they were found to be dry, dark, and not It to vibration, it was resolved that application should be made [???]■japer quarters for the use of those vaults as a place for erecting [???]desting apparatus. [???]l)w, the necessity for testing the gas, both chemically and as to Acuminating power, has become more necessary than ever from [???]tiuisance to which the whole district burning the Surrey Con[???]ors' Company's gas were subjected for some time. [???]fie atmosphere of the home of every person who used that gas [???]iv;g become exceedingly offensive, from its having been sent out [???]•J the Company's works in an unpurified state, and I am only [???] tg the truth when I say, that discontent has long prevailed [???]■ghout the district supplied by the Surrey Consumers' Com- [???]Ias to the quantity and quality of the article which they sell to [???]lblic. [???]ilarge accumulation of refuse from the purifiers of some gas [???]ufc, has been unceremoniously landed and thrown into a heap at [???]nder Dock Wharf, exhaling a sulphury stench. The Inspector [???]Usances and myself, have visited the place, and proper measures [???] :ing adopted by the Officers of this Board for the suppression [???]ct nuisance. [???]|aps of rubbish and street-sweepings have been shot on the land [???](ling Clarence-place. Such an accumulation is not only incon[???]iit to the inhabitants, whose passage to and from the main 22 streets is thus almost entirely blocked up, but also may, in wan[???] weather, generate dangerous miasmata. A Committee of the Vestn[???] who examined the spot, will, undoubtedly, report to the Board whi»[???] they recommcnd to be done. While passing along Rotherhithe-street, on Friday, 3rd curren[???] I was vociferously accosted by a person, who had suffered injury tr[???] his legs by the carelessness of the employes of Mr. Levy, Sack an[???] Bag Merchant. A huge pair of scales was suspended by ropes froi i[???] a piece of iron projecting from the upper part of the buildin;[???] Several individuals of both sexes were employed in weighing lar|f,[???] bundles of sacks. The edge of the scales projected at least a fo< f[???] beyond the porch over the footway when the scales were at rest, bi[???] considerably more when they were loaded and swinging. That sut[???] a state of things is dangerous to the foot passengers is proved ] I[???] the fact of the person who complained of having received an injur[???] I therefore thought it my duty to bring the circumstance before t![???] Vestry. Fifty-seven persons died last month in Rotherhithe, the death[???] from scarlatina, winch in December were fourteen, fell last month[???] five. Several cases of mild smallpox occurred in the Lower Distrii[???] but no death from that cause was registered. Yours respectfully, February, I860. W. MURDOCH. FIFTIETH REPORT. Gentlemen, A complaint having been made at the office, to the effect that t[???] roasting of coffee and chicory, at Mr. Simpson's, grocer, 27, Roth[???] hithe-wall, is a nuisance. I proceeded thither on two occasions 1[???] month, to examine the premises and witness the whole proce[???]. The shop of Mr. Simpson is fifty feet in length, and extends fr-[???] the north side of Rotherhithe-street to the river. At its furt[???] extremity, close to the Thames, a small compartment has been p[???] titioned off, and in that compartment is fitted up the usual apj[???] ratus for roasting coffee and chicory, namely, an oven and a revolvir[???] hollow cylinder. During the operation of roasting, which lasts from half to tlrr-[???] quarters of an hour, the smell is rather pleasant than otherwise; I[???] contents of the cylinder are then withdrawn from the fire, and;[???] they be coffee, they are shaken about in a large sieve to cool, bun[???] chicory, they are merely scattered on the floor. At the moment J[???] 23 [???]fljrawal, and for soinc minutes after, a dense smoke arises, and a [???]flof it i/iay, when the wind blows from a northern point of the [???]tflfnss penetrate into the shop, but certainly never into the street, [???]mil is forty-five feet distant. [???]me process of roasting coffee and chicory has been performed by [???]•Simpson on his premises during the last ten years, and has [???]:»f before been complained of. 1 consider the complaint frivolous, [???]nilso visited several times the smokehouse at the fishmonger's, [???]'Berhithe-wall, and cannot see any reason for altering the opinion [???]expressed by me in my previous reports. [???]fis unpleasant to attribute bad motives to any person, but it is [???]dl feared that complaints of the nature of those above-mentioned, [???]spring up from the bickerings of neighbours and personal [???]aosities, and are quite unfit to take up the valuable time of [???]MV estry. [???]vhe privies at No. 1, Thetford-place, tenanted by Creamer, and of [???]tLower Neptune-street, standing next door to the above, have [???]& built against the wall of No. 11, Thetford-place. These [???]are in a very filthy state from want of proper drainage, and [???]ta disgusting smell in the lower rooms-at No. 11. Unless measures be speedily taken for the abatement of the nuisance, wealth of^the inmates of No. 11 is likely to sutler. t the Bell Tavern, from some imperfection in the drainage, Ir penetrates into the cellar, and after stagnating there for a few s, becomes putrid and offensive. The neighbours complain of stench which arises while it is pumped up and runs into the [???]l in the back-yard. The same state of things existed once before, [???]was remedied by the Surveyor. It would be desirable that his [???]jitition be again called to it. [???]vKile summonses taken out by order of this Board were partly [???]i d before Mr. Seeker, on Friday, the 17th of February. Both [???]tis, however, were adjourned for three weeks. [???]Turing February, there died in Rotherhithe, forty-six persons, [???]x.mong them, six from scarlatina, one from measles, and one from [???]Iktheria. There have been in the Parish several cases of mild [???]ollpox, but no death has occurred from the malady. Yours respectfully, March, 1860. W. MURDOCH. 24 FIFTY-FIRST REPORT. Gentlemen, No nuisances in Rotherhithe have been more complained of t[???] those existing under the Railway Arches, and none have recti [???] more attention from the Sanitary Officers. Notices have been ser[???] summonses issued, and fines inflicted by the Magistrates, and[???] nuisances for a time have appeared abated, always, however, to[???] again; in a w ord, the results obtained have not been at all pro[???] tionate to the trouble taken. Nor will a total extinction of tl[???] nuisances ever be effected, unless the various Railway Compa[???] cordially co-operate with the Parish authorities for their suppress*[???] and let it be remarked, that it is the interest of the Companies, qvit as much as that of the Parishioners, to do away with the evil, the greater part of the complainants about the stenches at the 0 mercial Dock Station have not been inhabitants of this Parish, gentlemen in the habit of travelling to and fro on the diffei[???] Railways, here united into one great trunk. At the point where the Brighton Railway diverges from the ot lines, a patent manure maker occupies ten arches of the fori[???] The nuisance arising from his business are of two kinds. The f.[???] emanates from the mere accumulations of putrescent masse?[???] animal matter, such as scutch, hair, fish, &c. The second procc[???] from the process of mixing these divers ingredients and others, a:[???] as bones and coprolite, with sulphuric acid to make the man[???] On the addition of the acid, a heavy, pungent, suffocative vapou[???] immediately given off, which may be smelt at a considerable >i[???] tance from the place where the mixture is made. The occupier![???] the above-mentioned arches was summoned in April, 1859, u[???] fined, he was again summoned last month, and the case having li[???] heard on the 16th of March, the Magistrate gave him two day[???] abate the nuisance. 1 visited the arches on the 19th, at nc[???] The heaps of fish and scutch had been covered with sulphate of 1 and animal charcoal, and the stench was somewhat mitigated, t mixing was then going on. I re-visited the factory on the 26th March at seven in the mom[???] , During the week, a rough apparatus had been erected, and the l[???] were mixing on my arrival. The gases escaped freely from the ?[???] of the apparatus, and the accumulations of putrefying animal mat[???] smelt as foully as ever. I did not consider the nuisance abated.[???] On the premises of Messrs. Brown and Co., Globe-stairs, pni[???] manure makers, mixing takes place in open vessels. On the 2[???] March, a filthy stench exhaled from this factory, pervaded Rot![???] hithe-street as far as Lavender-lane. A notice wras served a few c[???] after. 25 [???]11 summons against Messrs. Miller and Johnson has been again [???]Moped. At this factory a gas-scrubber has been constructed. How [???]i)(fwill succeed in scrubbing the gases clean, is a question which [???]undone can decide. Complaints are stiil occasionally made of [???]dnells emanating from these premises. If the shaft were raised [???]t-# feet, it strikes me forcibly that the gases escaping from the [???]r tier would cease to be a nuisance to the neighbourhood. [???]ill heap of gas refuse at Lavender Dock Wharf, has been en[???]<fceinoved. [???]i«ny passage down Berkley-street, a few days ago, my attention [???]greeted to the dirty state of the street generally, to pools of [???]i ant water covered with green slime, scattered here and there [???]a large heap of dust and house refuse at the end of the street, [???]»,aimay become a nuisance during the summer months. [???]ill united Gas Enquiry Committees of St. Olave's and Rother[???]tamet at the St. Olave's Board on the 12th ultimo, when the clerk [???]>cd that the Churchwardens of St. John's Parish, consented to [???]rJ vault under the Vestry Hall for the purpose required. It [???]lereupon ordered that Mr. Hughes be requested to direct the [???]i.^of the gas-testing apparatus therein, and when complete, that [???]aling of the Committee be convened. [???]aetter from the Surrey Consumers' Gas Company, dated the [???]iitfebruary last, offering the use of a room and apparatus for [???]Kg gas, in the south-eastern Arcade, at convenient times, was [???]rihut the Committee having, previously to the date of that letter, [???]niiheir own arrangements, the offer was declined. 9 works in the vault under St. John's Vestry Hall are now [???]lufitted up, and will be shortly completed. [???]i.i mortality in Rotherhithe, in common with many other [???]tik)litan parishes, was large last month, sixty-one deaths having [???](^gistered, of which four were from smallpox. I examined [???]> at of the three dwellings where these four deaths occurred. [???]e-Vuse, No. 1, Debenham's-row, where two children died, is a [???]i fled place. The receptacles for water were shattered and filthy, [???]tter-closet full to the brim, and the place had no drainage [???]Kjler, so that, in wet weather, the yard is literally a swamp. It [???]ilted by an Irish family, consisting of a labourer, his wife,[???]■fir surviving children. All the latter, besids the two deceased, lien affected with the small pox, and one child at the breast ■11 suffering therefrom at the time of my visit. VV, want of drainage, dirty water, accumulation of soil, and the of all the comforts and conveniences of life, will not engender [???]Ibx, which is the result of specific contagion or infection; [???]here can be no doubt, that in this, as in all other zymotic [???]i liidemical diseases, the worst cases are found in such abodes of 26 wretchedness as the one which I have described, where all thee[???] cu instances by their debilitating effect on the body, tend to rem hit[???] inmates ready recipients, and often victims of any malady that rr.[???] chance to prevail. Yours respectfully, April, 1860. W. MURDOCH. B. Batt, Printer, Post-Office, Rotherhithe.