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144
"NOTTING DALE" SPECIAL AREA.
This report would be incomplete without some reference
to that portion of the North-west Sanitary District which, in
1893, was irreverently described as "A West-end Avernus," but
which is of late more decorously known, locally, as the "Notting
Dale" Special Area. In the last monthly report for 1895)
published in January, 1896, and in the first two reports for
1896, attention was directed to the deplorable statistics, vital
and mortal, of this limited area, which comprises St.
Katharine's-road, William-street, Bangor-street, Crescent-street,
and part of St. Clement's-road. Your Vestry manifested no
little concern in regard to these statistics, which dealt with
the general death-rate, the infantile death-rate, and the zymotic
death-rate; and in the hope of being able to do something to
ameliorate the sad condition of the inhabitants, by ascertaining
the causes of such abnormal rates, a Special Committee
was appointed.* This Committee, over which the present
Chairman of the Vestry presided, and of which the late Chairman
of the Vestry (now Bishop of Peterborough) was an active
member, held several meetings, visited the locality twice, and
took evidence, both oral and written. In July the Committee
presented their report, in which, to put the matter briefly, they
attributed the bad condition of the houses, and the evil state in
which the inhabitants were found, or represented, to be, to the
vicious proclivities and evil habits of the people themselves.
They stated that they did not find the area in question to be "an
insanitary or unhealthy area;" they regarded "the situation as
a healthy one;" the high death-rate being "due to the habits
and conditions of the people themselves"—the "filth and dirt
* The Committee was appointed, pursuant to a resolution (11th March,
1896) to the effect:—"That the several reports which the Medical Officer of
Health has submitted to the Vestry relating to Division B of the North-West
Sanitary District, be referred to a Special Committee for consideration and
report as to whether any steps can be taken by the Vestry, either singly or in
conjunction with some other Authority, to effect an improvement in the
conditions at present prevailing in the district in question."