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53
What is the cause of these high rates amongst the infants of
Hackney Wick? In the first place the conditions under which this
class of people live, and their habits contribute somewhat towards
it. Poverty, unfortunately, is always amongst them; overcrowding
with its attendant evils is more or less present; and the necessary
attendance of young mothers at workshop, stall, or factory, together
with want of experience in the management of the young, increases
the danger to infant life.
A second cause may be found in the soil upon which the houses
are built. I mentioned above that this was formed of house refuse,
supported on a bed of clay. The impermeable stratum below retains
the moisture in the superficial layers of soil, and as this latter contains
a large quantity of organic matter, the ground air becomes
damp and charged with organic and deleterious vapours, the products
of decomposition. As most of the houses in this area stand
immediately over the made soil, with only a few inches of air space
intervening between it and the wooder ground floor—a concreted
ground floor in this locality is a rarity—the atmosphere of the dwellings,
especially at night, is vitiated, and produces a lowering effect
upon the health of the inmates. Further, any defective drains or
sewers allowing sewage to percolate into the soil in the vicinity of
houses will add further to the impurity of the ground air, and
possibly for this means specific germs may be conveyed into the
dwellings.
A third factor which must injuriously affect the public health
in Hackney Wick is the unsatisfactory state of the sewers and drains
with respect to fall. Even at ordinary times, i.e., during dry
weather, the sewage is standing in some of the Vestry's sewers
at a varying distance from the outlets, the distance depending upon
the rise and fall of the sewage in the Council's sewer in Windsor
Road, and this level is kept up by the Tottenham Sewage in addition
to the local sewage. This condition of things is much exaggerated
during storms. Then the local outlets are entirely covered, the
contents dammed back under great pressure, even to the house
drains. As a result the soil becomes saturated with sewage, where
any defect in drain or sewer exists; and any floors below the road
level are liable to flooding. This has recently occurred in the
case of the houses of Windsor Road, in consequence of the surcharging
of the Council's sewer