Part 4
Inconveniences of legislation on details, and the want of scientific and trustworthy direction 328
High rates of charges, by fees, for superintendence of imperfect structural arrangements 329
Extent of waste in expenditure on local public works, and on separate collections 333
Public facilities for private land drainage afforded by consolidation 337
Grounds of unpopularity and distrust of new local expenditure 339
_Boards of Health or public officers for the prevention of disease_:— 340
Inefficiency of Boards of Health, as ordinarily constituted 340
Failure of Boards of Health in Ireland 342
Importance of the functions of medical officers in connexion with the executive authority 343
Means and economy of skilled services for the prevention of diseases 348
Administrative measures for the prevention of disease amongst the labouring classes 349
Administrative means for promoting the extension of medical science 352
VIII. COMMON LODGING-HOUSES THE MEANS OF PROPAGATING DISEASE AND VICE:— 356
State of the common lodging-houses in the Barnet union, 357; in Birmingham, 357; in Brighton, 358; in Manchester, 358; in the Stockport union, 360; in the Macclesfield union, 360; in Durham, 361; in the Teesdale union, 361; in the Tynemouth union, 361; in Newcastle-on-Tyne, 362; in Tranent, Haddingtonshire, 362; in Tain, Ross-shire, 362; in the borough of Warwick, 363; in Chelmsford 364
Grounds for subjecting common lodging-houses to the responsibilities of public-houses and beer-shops 364
Practical illustration of the regulations of common lodging-houses 366
IX. RECAPITULATION OF CONCLUSIONS:— 368
Recapitulation of the chief conclusions deduced on the information obtained in the course of the inquiry 369
Conclusions as to the available means of prevention 370
Grounds for uniformity of legislation 372
APPENDIX.
1. Evidence of Mr. John Roe, civil engineer, on the practical improvement in sewerage and drainage tried in the Holborn and Finsbury divisions of the metropolis 373
2. Evidence of Mr. John Darke, contractor for cleansing, as to the obstacles to cleansing, and the conversion of the refuse of the metropolis to productive uses 379
3. Evidence of Mr. John Treble, contractor for cleansing, as to the obstacles to cleansing, and the conversion of the refuse of the metropolis to productive uses 380
4. Extract from the report of Fourcroy and others, showing the calculation of the extent of pollution of the Seine from the discharge of the refuse of the streets of Paris 381
5. Communication from Captain Vetch, of the Royal Engineers, on the structural arrangements of new buildings, and protection of the public health 382
6. Evidence of Mr. George Gutch, district surveyor, on shifting and building inferior tenements in the suburbs, to avoid the provisions of the Metropolis building Act 394
7. Estimate by Mr. Howell, of the cost of structural arrangements of sewerage, drainage, water-tank, and means of house cleansing for labourers’ tenements in the metropolis 394
8. Description of specification of Mr. Loudon’s agriculturists’ model cottage 395
9. Statement of the requisites of cottage architecture, by Mr. Loudon 396
10. Specification of the cost of erection, weekly rents, interest on the capital invested, and the numbers of the tenements and cottages occupied by the poor and labourers; taken from returns made by the relieving officers of their respective districts in 24 unions in the counties of Chester, Stafford, Derby, and Lancaster 400
11. Tables of the expense of building cottages and repairs, in England and Scotland 401
12. Examination of the Rev. Thomas Whateley, Cookham, Berks, on cottage allotments and the keeping of pigs by cottagers 403
13. Arrangement of public walks in towns: plan of the arboretum at Derby, laid out by Mr. Loudon 405
14. Boards of Health: report on the labours of the “Conseil de Salubrité,” of Paris, from 1829 to 1839, by M. Trebuchet 409
16. Qualifications of officers of public health: statement by M. Duchâtelet 423
17. Instance by MM. Duchâtelet and D’Arcet, of the erroneous medical inferences as to the insalubrity of particular trades 424
18. On the habitations of the lower orders of Paris 426
19. On the habitations and lodgings of the lower orders in Paris 428
20. Extract from the report of the commission appointed by the Central Board of Public Health, to ascertain the condition of the dwellings of the working classes in Brussels, and to suggest means for their improvement 429
21. Principles of sanitary police in Germany: extracts from Professor Mohl 431
22. A report on the statements of Dr. Mauthner, regarding the sanitary condition of the operatives in the new cotton manufactures, Vienna, given at the monthly meeting on the 2nd of November, 1841. By Herr L. M. Von Pacher 432
23. Typhus fever, the vast amount of, produced amongst the poor of Liverpool, from want of ventilation and cleanliness: extract from Dr. Currie’s medical reports 441
24. Extract from Dr. Ferriar’s “Advice to the Labouring Classes in Manchester,” given in 1800 441
25. Principles of jurisprudence and responsibility for accidents: extract from the First Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the Labour of Children in Factories 442
26. Extract from the report of Mr. John L. Kennedy, barrister-at-law, to the Commissioners for inquiring into the Labour of Young Persons in Mines and Manufactories 445
27. Tables of Sickness in prisons 449
28. Tables of Sickness in the wynds of Edinburgh 452
29. Suggested form of notification to owners or occupiers, for the distribution of the expense of permanent alterations and the avoidance of overcharges on persons enjoying only portions of the benefit 453
30. Extracts from evidence as to the moral and physical evils that may be created by defective arrangements for hiring and paying workpeople 454
LIST OF PLATES.
Map, exhibiting the track of fever and cholera, and the badly-cleansed portions of the town of Leeds 160
Map, exhibiting the numbers and places of death from epidemic and other diseases affected by locality, in the parish of Bethnal Green, during one year 160
Linear representation of the comparative numbers and progress of deaths from consumption, from epidemics, and other classes of disease, in the metropolis, during the two years ended the 1st of January, 1842 167
Plans and views of habitations for the labouring classes 266
Group of Northumberland cottages, copied from a view given by Dr. Gilly, canon of Durham;—Group of cottages at Harlaxton, erected by Gregory Gregory, Esq.;—Plans and elevations of cottages, erected by the Rev. Benyon de Beauvoir, at Culford, Suffolk;—Plans of labourers’ cottages, erected by the Earl of Leicester, at Holkham; by the Earl of Roseberry in Scotland;—Plan of a new form of labourers’ cottages, erected by Sir Stewart Monteath, at Closeburn;—Plan of labourers’ cottages, erected by Messrs. H. and E. Ashworth, at Turton; by S. Greg, Esq., at Bollington.
Plan, by Mr. Sydney Smirke, of lodging-houses for workmen in towns 274
Section of the chief forms of sewers used in the metropolis 378
Plan of the arrangement of the future increment of towns for the protection of the sanitary condition and convenience of the population, by Captain Vetch, of the Royal Engineers 384
General plan of house and street sewerage, and of the construction of streets favourable to cleansing and dryness, by Captain Vetch 389
Isometrical view of a model agricultural labourer’s cottage, by Mr. Loudon 396
Isometrical view of a mechanic’s model double cottage, by Mr. Loudon 398
Furniture of cottages: plans of construction of beds and windows 399
Plans and elevations of labourers’ cottages erected by the Messrs. H. and E. Ashworth;—Plans and elevations of houses in Birmingham 402
Plan for the arrangement of public walks in restricted space in towns, as shown in the arrangement of the Arboretum, in Derby, by Mr. Loudon 406
REPORT ON THE SANITARY CONDITION OF THE LABOURING POPULATION, AND ON THE MEANS OF ITS IMPROVEMENT.
London, May, 1842.
GENTLEMEN,—Since my special attention was directed to the inquiry as to the chief removable circumstances affecting the health of the poorer classes of the population, I have availed myself of every opportunity to collect information respecting them. In company with Dr. Arnott I visited Edinburgh and Glasgow, and inspected those residences that were pointed out by the local authorities as the chief seats of disease. I also visited Dumfries. An inspection of similar districts in Spitalfields, Manchester, Leeds, and Macclesfield, and inquiries formerly made under the Commission of Poor Law Inquiry, and inspections of the condition of the residences of the poorer classes in parts of Berkshire, Sussex, and Hertfordshire, had supplied me with means of comparison. Abandoning any inquiries as to remedies, strictly so called, or the treatment of diseases after their appearance, I have directed the examinations of witnesses and the reports of medical officers chiefly to collect information of the best means available as preventives of the evils in question. On the documentary evidence of the medical officers, and on the examinations of witnesses, aided by personal inspections, I have the honour to report as follows:—
Partial descriptions of the condition of the labouring classes, in respect to their residences and the habits which influence their health, afford but a faint conception of the evils which are the subject of inquiry. If only particular instances, or some groups of individual cases be adduced, the erroneous impression might be created that they were cases of comparatively infrequent occurrence. But the following tabular return made up from the registration of the causes of death in England and Wales, which is the most complete yet attained, will give a sufficiently correct conception of the extent of the evils in question, when illustrated by the evidence of eye-witnesses, the medical officers whose duty it has been to attend on the spot and alleviate them. The table comprehends the abstract of the returns of the deaths from the chief diseases, which the medical officers consider to be the most powerfully influenced by the physical circumstances under which the population is placed—as the external and internal condition of their dwellings, drainage, and ventilation.
_To the Poor Law Commissioners._
_Deaths in Counties from Diseases governed by Locality._
┌───────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ COUNTIES. │Number of Deaths during the Year ended │ │ │ 31st December, 1838 from │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├───────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious │ │ │ Diseases. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├───────────┬──────────┬────────┬───────┤ │ │ Fever: │ │ │Hooping│ │ │ Typhus, │Small-pox.│Measles.│Cough. │ │ │Scarlatina.│ │ │ │ ├───────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────┼───────┤ │ ENGLAND. │ │ │ │ │ │Bedford │ 155│ 75│ 40│ 66│ │Berks │ 204│ 288│ 21│ 86│ │Bucks │ 256│ 85│ 61│ 27│ │Cambridge │ 231│ 136│ 57│ 90│ │Chester │ 592│ 279│ 178│ 87│ │Cornwall │ 443│ 135│ 168│ 491│ │Cumberland │ 165│ 188│ 11│ 83│ │Derby │ 394│ 77│ 79│ 71│ │Devon │ 615│ 460│ 287│ 312│ │Dorset │ 137│ 255│ 80│ 58│ │Durham │ 347│ 316│ 139│ 304│ │Essex │ 417│ 460│ 83│ 163│ │Gloucester │ 352│ 457│ 440│ 244│ │Hereford │ 84│ 83│ 17│ 36│ │Hertford │ 160│ 116│ 45│ 48│ │Huntingdon │ 61│ 18│ 1│ 17│ │Kent │ 955│ 510│ 169│ 214│ │Lancaster │ 2866│ 1628│ 898│ 910│ │Leicester │ 273│ 98│ 17│ 70│ │Lincoln │ 370│ 138│ 29│ 88│ │Middlesex │ 4422│ 3359│ 487│ 1749│ │Monmouth │ 328│ 321│ 49│ 91│ │Norfolk │ 515│ 126│ 63│ 109│ │Northampt^n│ 348│ 148│ 36│ 36│ │Northumb^d │ 366│ 149│ 46│ 113│ │Nottingham │ 222│ 73│ 18│ 80│ │Oxford │ 222│ 81│ 51│ 59│ │Rutland │ 11│ 2│ │ 13│ │Salop │ 213│ 154│ 112│ 138│ │Somerset │ 560│ 710│ 401│ 46│ │Southampt^n│ 454│ 164│ 78│ 148│ │Stafford │ 610│ 249│ 182│ 268│ │Suffolk │ 480│ 325│ 53│ 158│ │Surrey │ 1348│ 814│ 177│ 565│ │Sussex │ 391│ 80│ 159│ 88│ │Warwick │ 454│ 415│ 153│ 164│ │Westmorel^d│ 41│ 40│ 6│ 41│ │Wilts │ 246│ 259│ 263│ 140│ │Worcester │ 381│ 305│ 122│ 258│ │York, E. R.│ 194│ 92│ 167│ 149│ │York, N. R.│ 123│ 28│ 69│ 114│ │York, W. R.│ 1298│ 993│ 799│ 507│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ WALES. │ │ │ │ │ │North. │ 660│ 575│ 4│ 210│ │South. │ 1613│ 1004│ 199│ 398│ ├───────────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────┼───────┤ │Total, 1838│ 24,577│ 16,268│ 6514│ 9107│ ╞═══════════╪═══════════╪══════════╪════════╪═══════╡ │Total, 1839│ 25,991│ 9131│ 10,937│ 8165│ └───────────┴───────────┴──────────┴────────┴───────┘
┌───────────┬────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ COUNTIES. │Number of Deaths during the Year│ │ │ ended 31st December, 1838 from │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ Diseases of Respiratory Organs │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────────────┬──────────┬────────┤ │ │ │ │ All │ │ │Consumption.│Pneumonia.│ other │ │ │ │ │Classes.│ ├───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ ENGLAND. │ │ │ │ │Bedford │ 457│ 97│ 57│ │Berks │ 739│ 231│ 162│ │Bucks │ 575│ 131│ 61│ │Cambridge │ 686│ 156│ 70│ │Chester │ 1742│ 366│ 345│ │Cornwall │ 1270│ 342│ 124│ │Cumberland │ 562│ 75│ 142│ │Derby │ 905│ 200│ 205│ │Devon │ 1649│ 564│ 298│ │Dorset │ 571│ 146│ 106│ │Durham │ 1007│ 362│ 207│ │Essex │ 1250│ 276│ 234│ │Gloucester │ 1395│ 578│ 476│ │Hereford │ 333│ 56│ 57│ │Hertford │ 620│ 107│ 90│ │Huntingdon │ 216│ 45│ 42│ │Kent │ 1701│ 564│ 526│ │Lancaster │ 8124│ 2660│ 1916│ │Leicester │ 941│ 243│ 154│ │Lincoln │ 874│ 248│ 242│ │Middlesex │ 6220│ 3097│ 2334│ │Monmouth │ 481│ 183│ 78│ │Norfolk │ 1388│ 325│ 281│ │Northampt^n│ 762│ 192│ 124│ │Northumb^d │ 715│ 287│ 240│ │Nottingham │ 911│ 225│ 201│ │Oxford │ 655│ 108│ 152│ │Rutland │ 64│ 14│ 8│ │Salop │ 995│ 242│ 168│ │Somerset │ 1446│ 426│ 373│ │Southampt^n│ 1222│ 338│ 331│ │Stafford │ 1809│ 539│ 419│ │Suffolk │ 1306│ 315│ 184│ │Surrey │ 2196│ 978│ 700│ │Sussex │ 1047│ 222│ 181│ │Warwick │ 1495│ 678│ 361│ │Westmorel^d│ 248│ 33│ 44│ │Wilts │ 869│ 268│ 212│ │Worcester │ 990│ 353│ 235│ │York, E. R.│ 725│ 194│ 176│ │York, N. R.│ 550│ 102│ 135│ │York, W. R.│ 4253│ 1202│ 848│ │ │ │ │ │ │ WALES. │ │ │ │ │North. │ 1227│ 102│ 223│ │South. │ 1834│ 129│ 277│ ├───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │Total, 1838│ 59,025│ 17,999│ 13,799│ ╞═══════════╪════════════╪══════════╪════════╡ │Total, 1839│ 59,559│ 18,151│ 12,855│ └───────────┴────────────┴──────────┴────────┘