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Separate Sanitary Conveniences for the Two Sexes.—Section 38 of the Public Health (London)
Act, 1891, enacts that where persons of both sexes are employed at a factory, workshop, or
workplace, separate sanitary conveniences for persons of each sex shall be provided. Steps are
taken, when necessary, to give effect to this laudable provision of law.
THE PAVING OF YARDS.
The paving of yards is one of the matters' dealt with in the Council's by-laws, the tenth
by-law requiring, in respect of "any yard or open space, where it is necessary for the prevention or
remedy of insanitary conditions, that all or part of such yard or open space shall be paved," that it
be paved forthwith, by the owner of the dwelling-house with which such yard or open space is
connected. It will be observed that the paving of yards is prescribed "for the prevention or
remedy of insanitary conditions," a fact which is too often lost sight of. That paving is
"necessary" for this purpose is indubitable, and the subject is deserving of the attention of sanitary
authorities, by whom, generally, more probably would be done, were due weight attached to the
hygienic importance of cleanliness and dryness in the surroundings of dwelling houses—a matter to
which attention was specially directed in my annual report for 1897 (page 146); the authority of the
late medical officer of the Local Government Board being cited in support of the views therein
expressed.
HYGIENIC STREET PAVING.
In recent years some progress has been made in the paving with asphalte of streets in poor
localities where traffic is small; particularly in streets used by children as playgrounds, in default of
more suitable provision. This practice commenced in the Potteries district some years since, was
subsequently carried out to completion in the Notting Dale "special area" with manifest
advantage. I recommended, last year, the paving of several streets, which were viewed by the
Public Health Committee and reported to be suitable for the purpose, but no action has, so far,
been taken to give effect to the recommendation.
This question of the paving of carriageways was ably dealt with, some ten years, since by
the present Mayor of the Royal Borough, in a paper read before the Society of Arts, which obtained
the silver medal of the Society. The comparative merits and demerits of the several materials used
for paving purposes—granite, wood, asphalte—were passed in review. To asphalte, the second
place was assigned in respect of noiselessness, safety for horses, and durability; the third place with
respect to economy, and the first with respect to the points which most concern a sanitary
authority, viz., public hygiene and cleansing. "On the score of hygiene" (the author said)
"asphalte holds pre-eminently the first place owing to its impermeability, and the consequent
impossibility of absorption on its part; and in addition to this it may be stated in its favour, that it
is more easily cleansed, and dries more readily than any other pavement." No one acquainted with
the asphalted streets in the borough can be in doubt as to the advantages of this material, and on
sanitary grounds I should be glad to see the use of it largely extended, a course which would have
for its justification the admirable virtue of economy.
PUBLIC BATHS AND WASH-HOUSES.
The washers in the year ended 31st March, 1904, were 71,709, compared with 65,456 in the
preceding twelve months; the bathers 94,050 (males 77,786, females 16,264) compared with 83,028
in 1902-3. The total of males includes pupil teachers 732 (males 441, females 291), members of
evening continuation classes 2,839 (males 1,788, females 1,051), school children 4,596 (males 1,484,
females 3,112), and 825 members of a boys' club. In the preceding year (1902-3) there was a large
falling-off in the number of bathers which was more than recovered in the twelve months under
consideration. The increase in the number of washers is apparent rather than real, the laundry
having been closed for repairs for three weeks in August 1902, a fact which accounted for the
smaller number of washers in 1902-3, compared with those in 1901-2. I have remarked in former
reports that for the majority of parishioners the site of the establishment is not sufficiently central
for bathers, and is too remote for would-be washers. The same objection would apply to any
single site in the borough. What is to be desiderated is the provision, in convenient localities, of
buildings, on a modest scale, to which the poor in the central and southern districts might resort for
laundry purposes.