Feb. 9, 1888] 



NATURB^. 



357 



(/) By collecting and recording statistics and information, and 

 making, assisting, or encouraging experiments or researches as to 

 the effects upon the atmosphere, and upon life, health, and 

 property of the use of coal and other fuels and means employed 

 or to be employed in connection with heating or lighting ; and by 

 printing, publishing, and circulating any such statistics or infor- 

 mation, including the intended report of the Committees afore- 

 said, or any similar composition or literary work. 



^^g) By imparting information, instruction, and assistance to 

 local authorities, manufacturers, workmen, householders, servants, 

 and the public generally whether by means of lectures, demon- 

 sUations, pamphlets, written articles, or otherwise in relation to 

 the subject of smoke prevention or abatement. 



{li) By joining or concurring with any other institution, society, 

 or persons, in doing or causing, or procuring to be done, any of 

 the things aforesaid. 



To promote the abatement of noxious vapours arising from 

 manufactures or manufacturing processes, and to resort to and use 

 for that purpose powers and means analogous to those hereinbefore 

 contemplated with reference to Smoke Abatement and any other 

 reasonable means. For all or any of the purposes aforesaid, 

 cither alone or in conjunction with others, to promote legislation 

 and parochial and other regulations, and to assist in the enforce- 

 ment thereof, and of any existing or future legislative, parochial, 

 or other regulations. 



In reporting upon the business transacted by the Institution 

 I luring the past year, it is essential that the members should 

 he reminded of the urgency for further legislation on the subject 

 >f smoke prevention. 



The Institution has been in communication with the medical 

 officers of health and chief constables throughout the country, 

 and the most valuable information obtained with reference to the 

 working of existing by-laws is given as supplements Nos. i, 

 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, to a paper on Smoke Abatement, read at the 

 Bolton Congress of the Sanitary Institute. These supplements 

 are published in the Transactions of the Sanitary Institute of 

 Great Britain, and by reference to them it will be seen that the 

 municipal authorities of Liverpool are much more alive to the 

 necessity of prosecuting offenders against the Smoke Abatement 

 Acts than the authorities in any of the other places from which 

 reports have been obtained. 



By comparison with the Report issued by the Commissioner 

 of Police for the Metropolis of 1886, it will be seen that the 

 number of cases in which fines were imposed in Liverpool was 

 545, whereas the number of convictions in the metropolis 

 amounted only to 82. It might further be noted, however, in 

 respect to the penalties imposed, that the average of all the 

 fines in Liverpool was igy. \l\d. The average in London was 

 £\ 175. 5r/. The inadequacy of the fines imposed is a serious 

 obstacle in dealing with police prosecutions, and the fines have 

 little effect, if any, in the prevention of smoke, in consequence 

 of the amount of the penalty being so disproportionate to the 

 financial positions of the persons on whom they are imposed. 



During the year attention was prominently called by Lord 

 Stratheden and Campbell to the provisions in the Bill intro- 

 duced by him to the House of Lords " To amend the Acts for 

 abating the nuisance arising from the smoke of furnaces and 

 fire-places within the Metropolis," and resulted in a Select 

 Committee being appointed to consider the terms of the Bill, 

 and to report to the House of Lords. The minutes of evidence 

 were laid before the House of Lords on the 15th of July, 1887, 

 and the published Report contains much valuable information 

 with respect to the working of the Smoke Abatement Acts : — 

 The nuisance created by steamers on the Thames; the 

 necessity for extension of the metropolitan area to be within the 

 Acts ; the necessity for controlling the emission of smoke from 

 club-houses, hotels, private residences, and other buildings not 

 within the scope of the existing Acts ; the usual course followed 

 by the police in instituting prosecutions ; a return showing the 

 number of police employed in carrying out the Smoke Nuisance 

 Abatement Acts ; the effect of the increase of smoke on the 

 health of the people, and the advantages from a sanitary point 

 of view to be derived by the prevention of smoke ; also par 

 ticulars regarding the commercial advantages to be derived by 

 the consumption of smoke ; particulars of the methods which 

 might be adopted for the complete combustion of fuel in 

 domestic grates ; and generally, a great mass of information 

 dealing with the subject laid before the House of Lords by the 

 following gentlemen : Mr. W. R. E. Coles, the engineer 



appointed by the Home Secretary to examine furnaces in the 

 metropolis ; Mr. James Edward Davis, of the Home Office, 

 legal adviser to the Commissioners ; Mr. Charles Cutbush, 

 Superintendent of Police ; and Mr. Ernest Hart, Chairman 

 of Council of the National Smoke Abatement Institution. 



By reference to the Police Orders and Regulations reprinted 

 at the end of this Report, it will be observed in paragraph 36 

 that hotel-keepers in the metropolis not using steam-engines can 

 only be proceeded against under Section 19, Sub-Section 3, of 

 29 and 30 Vict., cap. 90, and be guilty of an offence under that 

 Section. In consequence of this Act of Parliament, Section 

 19, Sub-Section 3, stipulates that any chimney (not being the 

 chimney of a private dwelling-house) sending forth black smoke 

 in sucn quantity as to be a nuisance is exempt from the working 

 of the Act and it is left to the justices to dismiss the complaint 

 if they are satisfied such fire-place or furnace is constructed in a 

 manner to consume, as far as practicable, all smoke arising 

 therefrom, but it does not state any standard smoke shade or 

 any degree to be fixed upon as the limit, and therefore the 

 justices may or may not convict at their option. 



The purpose of Lord Stratheden and Campbell's Bill is to 

 prohibit or regulate the emission of smoke from any building, 

 no immunity being granted to hotels, club-houses, or domestic 

 fire-places now exempted from the existing Acts. The effect of 

 the general evidence brought before the Select Committee of 

 the House of Lords was a resolution to await the results of the 

 furth^ operation of the existing Acts, the purpose and intention 

 of which should, it was held, be more fully carried into effect. 



The Council invite the careful consideration of members to 

 the necessity for legislation, and on an early date will arrange 

 for a series of meetings to be held, at which it is expected the 

 sanitary inspectors from the leading provincial towns will 

 assemble, in order to compare and suggest revisions for the 

 existing municipal by-laws, as well as for the purpose^ of 

 drafting propositions to submit to the authorities on the subject 

 of improved legislation in the metropolis. 



The Council having considered the desirability of taking the 

 first opportunity for conducting simultaneous tests of the 

 furnaces of a large number of steam-boilers under equal con- 

 ditions, thought that such an opportunity might be offered at the 

 forthcoming Exhibition to be held in Glasgow. They accord- 

 ingly directed the Secretary to write to the Lord Provost of 

 Glasgow, laying the outlines of their scheme before him, and 

 suggesting its adoption by the Exhibition authorities. Briefly 

 stated, the proposal was : That the whole range of boilers to be 

 used for working the machinery of the Exhibition should be 

 erected in such a manner that each boiler should have its setting 

 and chimney independent of the other boilers, so that the 

 several systems of stoking and arrangement of furnaces could be 

 fully tested under identical conditions of fuel, atmosphere, and 

 time ; while the results as regards smoke would be evident to 

 the public. 



It is to be regretted that the authorities in charge of the 

 Glasgow Exhibition have not been able to see their way to co- 

 operating with the Smoke Abatement Institution as proposed. 

 Simultaneous tests on such a large scale have never previously 

 been made. Many tests of great value have been made on 

 furnaces, but these have been at separate times, and under 

 different atmospheric conditions, and the results, however favour- 

 able in themselves, have been incapable of classification for 

 comparison. The proposal of the Council, if adopted, would 

 have supplied what is wanting by making these tests of 

 several boilers at the same time, and under the supervision of an 

 impartial body. 



With reference to this subject, a correspondence has taken 

 place with Mr. Fletcher, Chief Inspector under the Alkali Acts, 

 as he has in preparation a report upon the injurious effect of the 

 impurities of the air and water on the Clyde. Mr. Fletcher 

 was asked to furnish a copy of the report, but replied that it was 

 in the hands of the Secretary for Scotland. Application has 

 been made to the Secretary for Scotland, and attention drawn 

 to the importance of the series of tests which the Council pro- 

 posed. The Secretary for Scotland in his reply stated that Mr. 

 Fletcher's report has not yet been brought before Parliament, 

 and with respect to the testing of the boilers, said that he would 

 inform the Committee of the Glasgow Exhibition that he con- 

 siders the suggestion of the Institution to be deserving of con- 

 sideration and adoption. 



At a meeting of the Institute of Engineers and Shipbuilders 

 in Scotland, on the 8th of December, a very comprehensive paper 



