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to itself, but little hope for the future of such locality, so
far at least as concerns its ability to resist the spread of
infectious diseases. Landlords and owners of small property,
there is reason to believe, are much too frequently
and undeservedly blamed for an indifference to sanitary
arrangements when dirt and squalor reign supreme in
and around such property; but in the majority of
instances that have fallen under my own observation
during a somewhat lengthened experience of the habits of
the poor, the neglect and utter carelessness of the renters
themselves could be shown to bo at the bottom of the evil
referred to. Too often has it been the case that property
of this description has been put into thorough repair, and
every sanitary appliance provided, at an expense largely
affecting the profits of the landlord, and yet, in a few
months, or may be weeks, the best constructed drains and
other conveniences have been again thrown into disorder
from sheer neglect of the commonest precautions: conveniently-placed
dust-bins that, properly used, would for
years have met every conceivable requirement of the
authorities, have, in like manner, been wantonly destroyed,
and in their place every corner and open space has been
converted into a receptacle for garble and refuse of the
most offensive description. In short, every possible means
will frequently appear to have been purposely resorted to
to thwart the very best intentions of owners, whose manifest
interest it is to keep such localities clean and wholesome.
A remedy for this great evil, especially under the
circumstances attending the dreaded approach of Cholera,
would, it is submitted, be to place all such localities under
the strictest surveillance of a sanitary police, of a police
having special functions to detect and bring to justice all
offenders against those laws which have been designed for
the protection of the community at large.
Great as have been the improvements in the dwellingplaces
of the poor in this locality, through the introduction
of good drainage, there is much to be accomplished in many
neighbourhoods to render the houses therein thoroughly
healthy habitations; and a good and unremitting water
supply, together with an efficient and equally unremitting