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16 Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
SECTION II— GENERAL.
Public Lavatory Accommodation.
During the year under report much attention has been displayed to the important
subject of Public Lavatory accommodation.
Two old-fashioned structures above ground were demolished at the time of the
Jubilee. Under the powers conferred by the Public Health (London) Act, 1891,
your Authority constructed an Underground Convenience, for men only, near the
" Elephant & Castle," in the year 1893.
Plans have been approved by the Vestry and await the result of Government
Inquiry, for the construction of two additional Underground Conveniences, namely,
one (for men only) at the Obelisk, St. George's Circus, and the other (for both sexes)
at the junction of the Old and New Kent Eoads.
Before leaving this important subject it may be well to add in the interests of
the general public health the following suggestions which, if carried out, could hardly
fail to add to the comfort and well-being of a poor and crowded population:—
(a). The provision at each of these points of accommodation for both sexes.
(b). Ample free accommodation for both sexes which appears to be imperatively
called for in a poor district.
Alcohol.
In discussing the relation of alcohol to the general health of a district it is
unfortunately impossible to obtain any large amount of evidence as to the directly bad
effects of drink upon the community.
Thus while the mortality returns record comparatively few cases as due to
"alcoholism'' they are nevertheless enormously swollen by the indirect results of the
abuse of intoxications. The latter appear under such headings as chronic diseases of
the liver, the kidney, the brain and of other organs, or under the still more misleading
description of "dropsy." However, on general grounds I may once more venture to
assert that the drink problem nowhere presses for solution with more urgency than in
a poor and crowded district such as St. George's, Southwark. It seems likely, judging
from the general trend of public opinion, that the question of environment has much
to do with the alcoholic craving of the individual. At any rate, as a whole the
wealthier and healthier classes of society now-a-days consume less alcohol than the
poorer.
If these observations and conclusions be correct it then becomes abundantly clear
that whatever elevates the general physical well-being of any society is likely in the
long run to lessen the abuse of alcohol therein.
Mortuary and Coroner's Court.
179 bodies were removed to the Parish Mortuary during the year 1897, as against
212 in 1896, 207 in 1895, 190 in 1894, 236 in 1893 and 191 in 1892.