25,000,000 BAD EGGS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 March 1916, Page 12

25,000,000 BAD EGGS.

AMUSIXG CASE IX EXGLAXD. MERRY DAY IN COURT. The Borough Council of Bermondsey were tlie defendants in an actioH brought in the King's Bench Division recently by Mr. John Bodfield. coffee-house keeper, 42 Bcrmondsey-wall, for damages for alleged nuisance which he said resulted from the council destroying large quantities of rotten eggs at their wharf close to his premises. Mr. H. M. Giveen said that before the nuisance started the plaintiff's business supported himself, his wife and three children. The council's wharf was in a narrow street fronting the plaintiff's shop. It was in February last year that the council began to cart large quantities af rotten eggs te the wharf, and the destruction went on for the greater part of the day. The council had erected a kind of mangle on their wharf. Cases of eggs were thrown into it, a man turned •.-,. handle, a wire netting caught t'f.e shc'.ls, anil the inside of the rotten eggs ran down into a gully. "REFUSE INSTRUCTOR." Mr. BeiJflsld, giving evidence, described the machine for smashing the bad e.sgs as resembling a mangle turned upside down. Mr. Giveen: Were the eggs rotten?— Krem the appearance and smell I think they were doubly rotten. (Laughter). Did they produce a smell?— Most awful. (Laughter), The crushing of the eggs sometimes went on till 8 o'clock at night, from early morning. His customers gradually left him, and he had to close the business altogether in June. Before the nuisance began he had on an average •2(10 customers each day. and his weekly takings came to £9 10s. He kept no

Mr. Justice Wailing: There i; a very | large school in Bermondsey. Hew did yau manage not to go there?—l <Ud not have much schooling. I thought it was compulsory I—At th« school I went to I was six years in the First Standard, and they ceuld not shift me. I couldn't learn anything. (Laughter). Mr. Justice Darling- (to counsel): I do not know whether you have ever seen the school. It is just about the size of Eton.—(laughter); It is a triumph to remain in the First Standard for six years. The witness stated that he was now a wharfsidc laborer. His children had suffered illness in consequence of the nuisance. Mr. Hewart, cross-examining, asked the witness as to the means ky which ordinary refuse was n»w disposed of. The witness replied that they now used a "dust instructor." Mr. Justice Darling: What do you call it? The witness: A dust instructor. (Laughter). Mr. Jnstice Darling (to Mr. Hewart): If only he had had a dust instructor et hifi school, nerhaps. he would have learned all right. (Laughter). This should interest yon as illustrating the result of compulsory education. (Laughter). Mr. Hewart: It is the exception that proves the rule. To the witness: Hare you over paid income tax? The witness: No; it was paid in with the rent. (Laughter). MILLIONS OF ROTTEN EGGS. Mr. Hewart: I suggest that there is a worse smell from the bone merchants, tallow, glue and soap merchants near the wharf than comes from the necessary destruction of the rotten eggs? The witness: A few yea.s ago thu council made them do away with tht»s bad "smells. Mr. Hewart: As.a citizen of Bcrmoiulsey, did you not hear of the extraordinary difficulties under which local authorities were laboring because of the delay of ships bringing the.-.e eggs? Before the war, when these ships used to accomplish their journey without delay, about 10,000' rotten eggs were destroyed per day, but shortly after the war, when delays of shipping,took place, the 'figures rose to something like 100,000, and during the kst few months the Bermondscy co".:nr : l have bad to destroy 25% million rotten eggs. , Mi. Justien Darling; Y ou ire getting far In _,, -■' st-Standard now, Mr, Ha* M.' " ■ '■' Mr. Peareey, licensee of the Bunch of' Grapes public house in East Lane, spoke of varioua attempts he had made to get an end put to the nuisance. Mr. Justice Darling: Did yon go to your member of Parliament ?—No. I used to represent the constituency next door (Deptford), and I am sure they would have come to me.—Do you mean the eggs, sir? (Laughter). Oh! no— (Laughter).—l meant the people of Deptford.

BAB FOR THE ZEPPELTXS. The witness st'slc.i i'.nt an exhaust pipe had lately liw: In -tailed at thy wharf, as a result of. Vmch the muim was tt.ii'teit up into u.e ;'.lr. - V,; 1 . .luaicw Das-iiii...: That will be !'«• i i'ei' the Zrpuji.s. (U'.ughte;> "" • ,;• 'dnc-ss: le-. I suggested that -• • ;i " d start li.:e ' m/i the cg,i '•'\Ya s i.- ■<•-.«>. s: It wiii - ■Mr. Ju..:.>! LV.v!.-:,r: it tfis ritness i.nly knell,. Colejm ''; i;iyyo sfl'-l iv.i-;' for its bad> *>v.iiu ii.iir. V--»<.'-< v (Lr.vgMor). ' John AU-c3d.. » B?' '■'. ' fc'j*-:«\ . -c,'W *'■, L,.,- 1 ! -. . -. , - ...^, « ike a nhj,-.:.: '..1 the r;./.-.irv. _. piltt named T. :• ..•". it wuuid nave :«.'• quite easy to ',:r.v taken the }ggs Soy . the river in i;,uges. r. Justice Darling 1 : \"ou might ha\ :■ pal t»d the barges like hospital ships kw'l then they would have been torpedoed'. (Laughter). I A Deptford laborer said he was unable to find a name suitable for the odor from the destruction of the rotten eggs. Mr. Justice Darling: If there is anything you would like to say about it, you know, dos't mind us. (Laughter). Arthur Jame.: Devcreaiix stated that lie had sat alongside dead bodies which had been in the water six or seven weeks and wa3 not affected by the.;- bat the smell from the rotten eggs at th-.- wharf drove him from the coffee-house. Walter Glover declared that the sin. l ',, was enough to knock a dog over. ■ Mr. Giveen: I have some witnesses as to the nuisance, my lord. Mr. Justice Darling:' I think they will add to it. (Laughter). Dr. E. T. Hollings expressed the opinion that the illness of plaintiff's childten might have been occasioned by the smell from the rotten eggs. THE DEFENCE. —"■ Mr. Hewart, K.C., opening the case for the council, said Bermerulsey was the ! centre of the egg trade of 0-«>a't Britain. In the wholly unexpected and unforeseen emergency occasioned by the war the officers of the Bermondsey Corporation did their best, and a very good l"3»t, too, in order to cope with the trouble! There were insuperable difficolties in getting barges, and it was found impossible to deal with the eggs through the municipal dust destructor. I Dr, Richard King Broiyn, medical officer of health for Bermondsey, and Mr. A. J. Angel, the borough surveyor and engineer, gave evidence. . The former said that though the smell might haj-e caused inconvenience to suspectiblc persons there was no danger to health. Mr. Justice Darling left several nuestioiis to the jury, 'which they answered as follows: * Was a nuisance created by the defendants ?—Yes. Did the defendants adopt the best practical means of avoiding the creation of a nuisance in the course of destrovine the had e<tgs?-No. What damages?—£ls6.