matter used on or in connection with the premises where his business is carried on, from which any offensive vapour or gas may be evolved, to be received or stored in rooms, chambers, or other places, constructed so that there may be no opening from such rooms, chambers, or other places into the external atmosphere.

4. Every Blood Boiler, Bone Boiler, Manure Manufacturer, Soap Boiler, or Tallow Melter, shall afford free access to every part of the premises where his business is carried on, to every Member and Officer of the Board, authorised in writing under the hand of the Clerk of the said Board, at any reasonable time during the hours within which such business may be in operation.

5. Every person offending against any of the foregoing Bye-laws shall be liable for any such offence to a penalty of £5, and in the case of a continuing offence, to a penalty of £1 for every day during which the offence may be continued after the conviction for the first offence.

6. Every Court of Summary Jurisdiction, as defined in the Slaughter-houses, &c. (Metropolis), Act, 1874, may, by Summary Order, as a penalty for the breach of any of the foregoing Bye-laws, suspend or deprive any person altogether of the right of carrying on the business of a Blood Boiler, Bone Boiler, Manure Manufacturer, Soap Boiler, or Tallow Melter.

Bye-law for Regulating the Structure of the Premises.

7. Every Blood Boiler, Bone Boiler, Manure Manufacturer, Soap Boiler, or Tallow Melter, shall cause every room, chamber, or other place which may be used on or in connection with the premises where his business is carried on, for the purpose of receiving or storing any manufactured product, residue, or other matter from which any offensive vapour or gas may be evolved, to be constructed so that there may be no opening from such room, chamber, or place into the external atmosphere.

(183) The Trade of a Fellmonger.

The fellmonger's business is to prepare skins for the leather dresser. He receives either recent or foreign skins, and the process is slightly different as to whether the one or the other has to be treated.

Fresh Skins.-These are beaten with a mallet to free them from dirt, and then soaked and washed in water. The skins are then limed (the object of liming is to detach the hair); the skin is laid with the hair undermost, and milk of lime is worked into the raw or fleshy surface of the skin. This process finished, the skins are hung up; and when it is found that the wool can easily be detached, the wool is removed by hand.

The skins denuded of wool are termed "pelts." The pelts are thrown into a pit containing milk of lime, and from this pit go direct to the leather dresser.

Foreign skins are hard and dry, and first require soaking. The "burrs," with which the wool is often covered, are also removed by a special machine. The wool is not loosened by liming, but is removed by "the tainting process," that is, a certain decomposition occurs which loosens the wool, and when this stage is reached the wool as before is removed by hand.

The chief nuisance is the storing of large quantities of skin, none of which is absolutely free from adherent portions of flesh, but the other operations can all be done without the creation of nuisance. It is true that large quantities of skins undergoing the "tainting" process smell slightly, but the smell seldom extends beyond the sheds or works. The chief and essential thing is to avoid cause of offence in the storing of the fresh skins.

(184) Gut Scraping-Gut Spinning-Preparation of Sausage

Skins.

These trades are all of a kin. Gut scraping is in the larger establishments done by women. The intestine is scraped on a bench by a wedge-shaped piece of wood, all the interior soft parts being in this way detached, and pass along to go out of the cut end; only the peritoneum and a little of the muscular structure of the gut is left. This is the whole operation for sausage skins.

For ordinary catgut, lengths of the scraped gut are sewn together with needle and thread. They are then spun by means of a spinning wheel. Gut spinning is therefore only the twisting of the prepared gut into a cord. The materials used are the small intestines of hogs and sheep. The intestine of the latter measures from 25 to 30 yards, that of the hog about 20 yards. The gut is first, as a preliminary operation, freed by washing from its

contents.

With regard to these operations, Ballard says:

:

Speaking generally, gut scraping and gut spinning establishments are the most intolerable of nuisances wherever they may chance to be located. Within the workshops the stench is inconceivably horrible: few persons unaccustomed to it could bear to remain for a single minute in some scraping rooms that I have visited I myself have had sometimes a difficulty to restrain vomiting and to carry on the inquiries I was bent upon. The stench, after I have been in some of them for twenty minutes or half an hour, has so pertinaciously attached itself to my clothing and hair, that only repeated ablutions have removed the odour from my hair; my clothing has retained the stench for days. It spreads from the workshop and yard all round the neighbourhood, and often gives rise to such loud complaints that local

authorities in some towns have insisted upon the entire removal of them."

As an example of the regulations necessary to be enforced the following byelaws in force in the metropolis may be quoted :—

LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL.

THE SLAUGHTERHOUSES, &C. (METROPOLIS), ACT, 1874, 37 and 38 l'ic., c. 67. BYE-LAWS for regulating the conduct of the business of a Gut Scraper, that is to say, any business in which gut is cleansed, scraped, or dealt with otherwise than for the manufacture of cat-gut: and the structure of the premises on which such business is being carried on; and the mode in which application is to be made for sanction to establish such business anew, within the limits of the Metropolis (except the City of London and the liberties thereof).

In pursuance of the Slaughterhouses, &c. (Metropolis) Act, 1874, by which the Metropolitan Board of Works are constituted the Local Authority for the Metropolis (except the City of London and the liberties thereof), the said Metropolitan Board of Works do hereby make the following Bye-Laws:

Bye-Laws for Regulating the Conduct of the Business.

1. Every Gut Scraper shall cause all gut, and every other offensive material which may at any time be brought or kept upon the premises, to be so brought or kept in close vessels or receptacles; and shall in all other respects adopt such precautions in the bringing or keeping of any such gut or other material upon the premises as effectually to prevent the emission of any offensive smell from such gut or other material.

2. Every Gut Scraper shall cause every vessel or receptacle which may be used for the bringing, keeping or manipulation of such gut or other offensive material upon the premises, to be constructed of galvanized iron or other non-absorbent material, and to be furnished with tight and close-fitting covers.

3. Every Gut Scraper shall cause his business to be so carried on, and shall in all other respects cause such precautions to be taken, as may be necessary to prevent the emission of any offensive smell into the external atmosphere from any part of the premises where such business may be carried on.

4. Every Gut Scraper shall cause all offensive gut, garbage, filth, refuse, or other offensive matter upon the premises, to be placed in proper vessels or receptacles constructed of non-absorbent materials and effectually closed.

5. Every Gut Scraper shall cause the floor of any part of the premises where gut scraping may have been carried on, and every tank, tub, vessel, or receptacle, scraping board, and other utensil or instrument which may have been in use, or which may be in a foul or offensive condition, to be effectually cleansed, and to be disinfected by the application thereto of a sufficient quantity of chloride of lime, carbolic acid, or other effectual disinfectant.

6. Every Gut Scraper shall, from time to time, as often as occasion may require, cause all garbage, filth, or refuse to be removed from his premises in properly closed vessels or receptacles, constructed of galvanized iron or other non-absorbent material.

7. Every Gut Scraper shall cause the premises on which his business is carried on to be constantly provided with an adequate supply of water, and he shall cause every part of such premises to be thoroughly washed, from time to time, as often as may be necessary, and to be kept at all times thoroughly clean.

8. Every Gut Scraper shall cause every inner wall of the premises on which his business is carried on to be kept at all times thoroughly clean and in good order and repair. He shall cause the upper part of every inner wall and also every ceiling in

1 See previous footnotes.

S

every part of his premises where any process of his business may be carried on, to be thoroughly washed with hot lime-wash in the first week of each of the months of March and September, and also as often as may be necessary for the purpose of keeping such part of the premises in a clean and wholesome state.

9. Every Gut Scraper shall cause every vessel, receptacle, utensil, or instrument provided or used upon, or in connection with, the premises on which his business may be carried on, to be kept, when not actually in use, at all times thoroughly clean, so as to prevent the emission of any offensive smell from such vessel, receptacle, utensil or instrument.

10. Every Gut Scraper shall afford access to every part of the premises on which his business is carried on to every Member and Officer of the Board, authorised in writing under the hand of the Clerk of the said Board, at any reasonable time during the hours within which such business may be carried on.

11. Every person who shall not comply with any of these Bye-Laws shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable for every such offence to a penalty of Five pounds; and in the case of a continuing offence, to a penalty of One pound for every day during which the offence may be continued after the conviction for the first

offence.

12. Every Court of Summary Jurisdiction, as defined in the Slaughter-houses, &c. (Metropolis), Act, 1874, may, as a penalty for the breach of any of the foregoing Bye-Laws, by Summary Order, suspend or deprive any person altogether of the right of carrying on the business of a Gut Scraper.

Bye-Laws for Regulating the Structure of the Premises.

13. Every Gut Scraper shall cause every floor upon which any process of his business is carried on, in any part of his premises, to be properly covered with a layer of concrete, or other suitable jointless, impervious material, laid (in the case of a ground floor, upon a suitable bottom of at least four inches in thickness. He shall cause every such floor to have a proper slope towards a channel or gully; and shall cause every part of his premises wherein any such floor may be constructed to be effectually drained by adequate drains communicating with a public sewer. He shall also cause every drain to be properly trapped, and the entrance thereto to be covered with a fixed grating, the bars of which shall not be more than three-eighths of an inch apart.

14. Every Gut Scraper shall cause the inner walls of every part of his premises within which gut scraping is carried on, to be covered with hard, smooth, impervious material, to the height of four feet at the least; and such covering shall be always kept in good repair.

15. Every Gut Scraper shall cause all needful works and repairs to the premises to be forthwith done and executed as and when the same shall become requisite, but shall not allow any alteration whatsoever to be made in respect of the structure of the premises, without the consent of the Board.

16. Every person who shall not comply with any of the foregoing Bye-Laws relating to the structure of the premises shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable, for every such offence, to a penalty of Five pounds, and in the case of a continuing offence, to a penalty of One pound for every day during which the offence may be continued after the conviction for the first offence.

Bye Laws for Regulating the Mode of Application for Sanction to New Establishment of the Business.

17. Every person who may apply to the Board for sanction to establish anew the business of a Gut Scraper, shall furnish with the application a plan of the premises and sections of the buildings in which it is proposed to carry on such business, such plans and sections being drawn to a scale of a quarter of an inch to the foot, and showing the provision made, or proposed to be made, for the drainage, lighting, ventilation, and water supply of such premises; and shall also furnish a key plan of the locality, showing the buildings and streets within one hundred yards of the premises, drawn to a scale of five feet to the mile.

LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL.

THE SLAUGHTERHOUSES, &c. (METROPOLIS) ACT, 1874, 37 and 38 Vic., c. 67. BYE-LAWS for regulating the conduct of the business of a Cat Gut Maker or Cat Gut Manufacturer, i.e., a person whose business it is to manufacture articles from the gut or intestines of animals; and the structure of the premises on which such business is being carried on; and the mode in which application is to be made for sanction to establish such business anew; within the limits of the Metropolis (except the City of London and the liberties thereof).

In pursuance of the Slaughterhouses, &c. (Metropolis), Act, 1874, by which the Metropolitan Board of Works are constituted the Local Authority for the Metropolis (except the City of London and the liberties thereof), the said Metropolitan Board of Works (for the purposes of these Bye-Laws called the "Board") do hereby make the following Bye-Laws:

Bye-Law for Regulating the Conduct of the Business.

1. Every Cat Gut Maker shall cause all gut, other than dried gut, and every other offensive material which may at any time be brought or kept upon the premises, to be so brought or kept in closed vessels or receptacles; and shall in all other respects adopt such precautions in the bringing or keeping of any such gut or other material upon the premises as effectually to prevent the emission of any offensive smell from such gut or other material.

He shall cause every vessel or receptacle which may be used for the bringing, keeping, or manipulation of such gut or other offensive material upon the premises, to be constructed of galvanised iron or other non-absorbent material, and to be furnished with tight and close-fitting covers.

2. No Cat Gut Maker shall, after the expiration of twelve months from the date of the publication of these Bye-Laws, open or permit to be opened any vessel or receptacle containing gut or other offensive material, or carry on or permit to be carried on, the processes of cleansing and scraping the gut, except in a chamber constructed in accordance with the requirements of the Bye-Law in that behalf herein contained, and effectually closed so as not to allow any offensive smell to escape therefrom into the external atmosphere, or into the other parts of the premises.

3. Every Cat Gut Maker, at all times while the process of cleansing or scraping any gut may be carried on, shall cause such process to be so carried on and in all other respects such precautions to be taken, as may be necessary to prevent the emission of any offensive smell into the external atmosphere from the chamber in which such process may be carried on.

4. Every Cat Gut Maker, on every day during which the processes of cleansing and scraping any gut may be carried on, shall, immediately after the completion of such cleansing and scraping, cause all offensive gut, garbage, filth, refuse, or other offensive matter retained upon the premises, to be placed in proper vessels or receptacles constructed of non-absorbent materials and effectually closed.

He shall, at the same time, cause the floor of the chamber in which any such process may have been carried on, and every tank, tub, vessel, or receptacle, scraping board, and other utensils or instrument which may have been in use during the day, or which may be in a foul or offensive condition, to be effectually cleansed, and to be disinfected by the application thereto of a sufficient quantity of chloride of lime, carbolic acid, or some other effectual disinfectant.

5. Every Cat Gut Maker shall, after the expiration of the time aforesaid, during the process of opening any vessel or receptacle, or of cleansing or scraping any gut, or of cleansing or disinfecting any close chamber or any utensil, cause the atmosphere of the close chamber wherein such process may be carried on, to be continuously drawn into a shaft and conveyed into or through a furnace fire in such a manner as to effectually consume or destroy all noxious and offensive gases or vapours which may have arisen from such process therein.

1 To be now read "London County Council."