droppings as of Sunday.

Corporation of Hamilton officials refused to back down yesterday over the proposed horse diaper ordinance to keep city streets clean.

They decided to go ahead with enforcing it after considering a proposal by carriage drivers to pay someone fulltime in the summer to clean streets.

"We feel we are doing the right thing -- it's long overdue,'' Hamilton Mayor the Rt. Wor. William Boyle said.

"We are hoping there will not be much opposition to the law. It is a reality in most places in the world. And in every city where the legislation is enacted, the same objections were received, but once it was put in place, it worked very satisfactorily. No one ever repealed it.'' Streets Committee chairman Mr. David A.L. White noted there were now 30 horse and buggies on the road during summer, and the number was increasing.

Corporation Secretary Mr. Roger Sherratt said a concrete receptacle for droppings to be flushed down had been built.

A hose and small sink had been provided for carriage drivers to keep the area clean.

And the barrier running along the rear of the canopy had been strengthened for horses to tie up at.

"We want the carriages on Front Street,'' Mr. Boyle said.

Mr. Sherratt noted a Bermudian company had obtained a patent for the vinyl devices and was planning to make them locally. They sell for about $80-$120.

He added at a Monday meeting with a group of carriage drivers headed by Mr.

Karl Terceira, they had acknowledged there was a droppings problem during the cruise season and had given no indication they would defy the law if the Corporation went ahead and implemented it next month.

But a group of carriage drivers, headed by Ms Deirdre Flood, have threatened that they and other carriage drivers will defy the law.

She said their horses would not tolerate the devices and the drivers were too "frightened'' to try them out.

MARES' ROOM -- Hamilton Mayor the Rt. Wor. William Boyle and Streets Committee chairman Mr. David A. White discuss the just-built receptacle for carriage drivers to flush away droppings from their horses' diaper devices.