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44
All these rates are excessive, and cannot be easily accounted for,
and only teach us that where all are bad Islington is less bad than the
one and not so good as the other.
London as a whole, and Islington as a considerable district of
it, are, as I have pointed out in the earlier part of this report,
unfavourably circumstanced, owing to their overcrowded habitations,
in defending themselves against this disease, which, once it has gained
admission into them, spreads rapidly from person to person, especially
when they live in such close proximity to each other.
Another reason is, and I speak now for Islington only, although
the defect is, I believe, common to London, that the house drains are
generally in a defective condition, badly jointed, if jointed at all, and
leaking to a considerable extent, thereby causing pollution of the
sub-soil. It is no uncommon occurrence to find houses with old worn-out,
or rotten drains, which cross under several or through individual houses,
or run from back to front. The plans of many of these drains do not exist,
for plans were not insisted on when they were laid, and each builder did
just what he liked, and, therefore, contented himself with getting an outlet
for the sewerage where he could. Naturally, the drain of the house
next door was his easiest and least costly outlet, and having in all
probability built that house too, he joined the new drain to that
previously laid, viâ
the shortest route, and quite indifferent to the
fact that it passed under the house, the garden or the yard. The
connections of the soil pipes, sinks or other drains were then
made in the cheapest and most expeditious manner, and so long as these
auxilliary pipes pierced the main drain of the house, thereby ensuring
the discharge of their contents into it, nothing further was considered
necessary; and as a result to-day sewer gas finds an easy entrance into
our houses by many vents.
But comparatively modern drains, nay, even some drains laid
within five years have been found imperfect. The fact,is, that supervision
was generally lax, and builders were allowed too free a hand. I do not
say or imply that those men who were appointed by the Vestries or