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14
Besides the work of house to house visitation and removal of nuisances,
the inspectors were much occupied during the autumn in duties relating to
the cholera epidemic. Passing by these as being of a special nature that have
elsewhere been reported on, mention must be made of a class of proceedings
that have never before been so efficiently taken as in 1866, when the prevalence
of bowel complaints caused unwholesome articles of food to be more
than commonly dangerous. Three parcels of bad meat, eight of bad fish, and
nineteen of decaying fruit were seized, and eleven persons were summond
and fined for exposing such things for sale. To Inspector Dixon belongs the
chief credit of these proceedings.
Referring for particulars of construction to the Report of the Surveyor,
a record may be here made of very important new sewers built in the past
year in Dudley Street and New Compton Street. These works may be relied
on to improve the convenience and health of the localities—which especially
have much needed improvement—in which they have been carried out.
The charcoal boxes which were fitted to certain sewers experimentally a
year ago, have answered their purpose satisfactorily; at least so far as can
be judged from the very limited scale on which they were applied.
As to the trades that are placed by law under the supervision of the
sanitary authorities: 1. Slaughter-houses have been repeatedly inspected and
are found habitually in a fair condition. Two of these establishments, those
in Kingsgate Street and Little Turnstile, have ceased to be licensed, and no
new one has come on the list. 2. Cowhouses have been disused, to the great
advantage of that neighbourhood, in Lloyd's Court and Stacey Street. The
other cow-houses of the district have had their licenses renewed and have
been kept in decidedly better condition than usual. In all, 88 cows are now
kept in the district, in the sheds of six licensed cow-keepers. There has been
no cattle plague in the sheds since the end of 1865. 3. Bakeries have been
frequently inspected. Though in many of these places a good deal of improvement
has been made and greater attention than formerly is habitually paid to
cleanliness and ventilation, there are others which are often in a filthy condition
and require constant looking after. It will probably be necessary to
take some more stringent action in the ensuing year, if the regulations of
the Board be not better obeyed in these bakeries.
In the last of these reports mention was made of legislative action which
had for its object the provision of healthy tenements for the poor. The
powers which have been conferred on local authorities by various Acts, of
which that of 1865 was the last, have not yet been put into action in St.
Giles's. But private action in this direction has been taken by several
societies, and recently by the Central London Dwellings Improvement Company.
In 1863, three houses in Parker Street, and in 1866 seventeen houses
in Star Court and Cross Lane have been purchased by this Company, and are
kept in a much better condition by them than by their former owners; while
the property is so managed as to pay a small dividend on the outlay. It may
be hoped that the success of the endeavours of this and other societies may be
such as to encourage similar endeavours on a larger scale by public authorities.
In concluding this report, in which frequent reference has been made to
the cholera epidemic of 1866, and to the measures that were adopted in
respect thereof, attention must be drawn to the special report that was made
by the Sanitary Committee of their action under the Diseases Prevention Act.
It is not needful to repeat what that action was, but, for a complete understanding
of the sanitary operations of the year, it is essential that that report
be read in connexion with the present.
GEORGE BUCHANAN, M.D.