London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Shoreditch 1892

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch, Parish of St. Leonard]

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118
amounted to £699 15s. 0½d. The sum of £5 14s. 0d. was also paid for watchmen's
wages. The companies contributed £111 5s. 0d. for labour (exclusive of foreman's
time), and £33 17s. 7d. for material required in the said repairs.
One labourer and two watchmen were employed at Reliance Wharf upon
constructive works. The labourer's wages amounted to 7/- and the watchmen 14/-
In consequence of the use of the Vestry's Steam Roller and hired rollers the
unpaved roads are, generally speaking, in a satisfactory condition. Those requiring
attention are enumerated hereafter.
The Vestry's Roller was at work 267 days during the past year, and about 11
men on an average were employed, under the direction of the road foreman, in
scoring, rolling, sweeping, and watching the highways under repair, and also upon
ballast footway repairs, and other incidental works. The amount expended in their
labour was £733 15s. 5½d.
Owing to the distress during the winter, arising from want of employment by
many of the residents in the district, works which would have been carried out by
the Vestry in the ordinary course, were put in hand, so that relief might be
afforded to those out of employment.
The labour consisted chiefly in picking and regulating the macadam roads,
also in breaking up old pebbles at the Vestry's stone yard. For the first mentioned,
three extra 10 ton Steam Rollers were engaged, one being at work 66 days, one
20 days, and one 8 days. Additional tools were purchased for the men, and extra
quantities of materials supplied.
Fifty streets or roads, as per detailed statement at pages 123—130, were made
good, about 29 men on an average per day being employed, but owing to the large
number of applicants and in order to divide the work as beneficially as possible, they
were placed in sections under gangers, each person being employed three days in the
week, and every man was paid on the completion of each day's work. Their wages
amounted to £365 15s. 5½d.
In this way about 300 men were found temporary employment between the
week ending 25th November, 1892, and the 24th March, 1893, and the results, so
far as can be ascertained in thus affording help in time of need, were very
successful.
The tabulated statements at pages 119—122 give the roads that have been
rolled by the Vestry's workmen and the unemployed, together with the cost of same,
and other details.