London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hackney 1900
Report on the sanitary condition of the Hackney District for the year 1900
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42
The following table shows the number of requests received for the
removal of house refuse during 1900, compared with those of previous
years. The average is about four per week, an extremely small
proportion considering that over 30,000 houses are visited each week
by the dustmen.
Table XI.
| 1891 | 1895 | 1896 | 1897 | 1898 | 1899 | 1900 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 136 | 89 | 37 | 21 | 22 | 26 | 50 |
| February | 48 | 41 | 17 | 20 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| March | 85 | 53 | 30 | 15 | 6 | 13 | 9 |
| April | 97 | 66 | 46 | 8 | 19 | 37 | 22 |
| May | 55 | 73 | 22 | 11 | 3 | 21 | 11 |
| Tune | 72 | 46 | 39 | 12 | 11 | 22 | 20 |
| July | 63 | 31 | 18 | 17 | 11 | 43 | 37 |
| August | 56 | 23 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 14 | 8 |
| September | 58 | 38 | 24 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 18 |
| October | 73 | 27 | 21 | 8 | 3 | 10 | 8 |
| November | 94 | 39 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| December | 46 | 26 | 17 | 7 | 15 | 18 | 13 |
| Totals.. | 893 | 552 | 297 | 143 | 114 | 220 | 205 |
The refusals of householders to allow the dust to be taken away
numbered on an average about the same as during previous years.
There is no doubt that such refusals are an offence under the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891. It is probable that a few judiciously
selected prosecutions would reduce the proportions of refusals
considerably.
DISPOSAL OF HOUSE REFUSE.
In my annual report for the year 1895, I recommended the late
Vestry to dispose of their house refuse by means of destruction by
fire. In the following year the then Sanitary Committee presented to
the Vestry a report recommending :—
(a)—That the Vestry do undertake the work of collection and
disposal of house refuse in the parish.