The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-24

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 Bridgeport, 1Connecticut.
 T Sir:
 You are hereby notified of the sex-
 istence of a. nuisance injurious to
 public health upon the premises
 owned by you, or under your
 charge, on Asylum street, in the
 town of Bridgeport.
 The nuisance referred to is re-
 suits from the operation of your
 plant there situated for the reduc-
 ton of garbage, offal, and animal and vegetable waste and the
 manufacture of by-products.
 It is hereby ordered that the said
 nuisance be removed or abated on
 or before the last day of Novem-
 Der, 1912.
 E. A M'LELLAN,
 Health ohicer, For City of Bridge
 Within the time prescribed by the Statute Gsection 2533 General statutes) said Fischer appealed to the County Health Officer who forthwith gave mo- tice of hearing on said appeal as re- quired by said section.
 By written stipulation of counsel, it was agreed that the hearing on said appeal should be continued until such time as one or both the parties there- to should request the County Health Officer to proceed.
 Accordingly such hearing was con
  1913, and on. that and subsequent dates, the parties were fully heard up- on all questions of law and of fact which theSE 1estred to present.
 By the. provisions of the Charter of the City of Bridgeport Special Laws of 1907, Chapter 461, Section 111) the Health Officer of the City is vested with all the powers and subject to all conditions and limitations now or which may hereafter be by law inn posed upon Town Health Oh7cers.''
 While many specific duties are. laid upon Town Health Oncers, and many bowers vested in them by different legislative enactrnents, the broadest and most general statement of those powers is, tosbe found in Section 2521 of the General Statutes, wherein the following language is used: -tsaid Town Health Officer shall have and exercise all the powers necessary and proper for preserving the public health and preventing the spread Of diseases > If the issuance of this order is within the power of the City Health Officer it is so by the Provision of this Sec tion-
 The order, therefore, is an author ized exercise of his powers only in case 1t is found to be necessary for preserving the public health and pre- venting the spread of diseases-''
 This Statute in substance and intent has been upon our Statute books for more than a century It has from time to time been varied in it's phra se- ology, and the powers which it now vests in the Health Officer were for r1erly vested in Town Boards ot Health.
 Under. this Statute in it's present form, and in the slightly altered forms Of previous revisions, the Health Au- thorities have deemed it their duty to abate nuisances which partake more of the nature of offenses against pub lie comfort than of ofeenses directly or immediately affecting public health. They have not deemed it necessary to find before taking Jurisdiction, that condition. complained of had actual ly been the cause of a specific disease They have uniformly taken jurisdic- ton and caused the abatement of con- dttions which by reason of the ennis sion of foul and offensive odors were In their Judgment likely or liable to produce disease. They have construed the word disease very broadly 9n the practical application of the sta tute, including in 1t those depressed physical conditions which follow when one is constantly or sfreqeuntly sub- jected to offensive sodors They have declined to distingu uish between offens- i've and noxious odors, holding prac- tically that a-continued or -orten- re- curing offensive .odor, was noxfousA ie- harmful, and hence a menace to inc public health.
 How broadly the term public health may be construed has. not been definitely settled by our courts. have no reasonable doubt, howe ever, but that if the question were square iy put before our Supreme Court, it would be held that the words flor preserving the public health and pre- venting the spread of dfsea ses'' should he onnStrnAd fn rix fT36 GIao cer Jurisdiction to abate not only con- ditiona directly dangerous to life and health, but to abate as well conditions sssz latcaa render drinking water food or air Impure or unwI1oIesone.
 In the absence of adjudication to the contrary and in view of the almost | imm emoriaI construction of this statute i by the Health Authorities and the mi nor courts. must consider the law to be that the Health Officer of Bridgeport has the power to abate a condition which creates offensive odors 1 of such character and to such anAex tent as to reach and annoy a consid- erabIe part of the general public This brings me to the cons1dera- | ton of the question of fact-whether or not the garbage reduction plant maintained and conducted by Appel lant on Asylum street In Bridgeport, is 1 the source Of offensive odors of such l character and extent as to reach and arnoy a considerable part of the gen erel public
 l The testimony adduced, by thes Ap- pellate was largely that of persons re siding or having occasion frequently | to be in that section of the city lying north of an irregular line zcomnenc- 1 ing at the junction of Noble avenue l and Huntington road and running in a general southeasterly direction approx 1 innately parallel to the broken line o1 l Old Mill Green and Boston avenue tc 1 the junction of Mill Hill avenue and 1 Grant street. The largest number l of witnesses for the complainants are 1 grouped in two sections: First, thai around the Noble avenue entrance tc Beardsley park. and second, on NH Hill. The Beardsley park section is l slightly north of west from the gar l bage plant, and the Mill Hill section Is almost directly southeast therefrom The Noble avenue extrance to Raards-