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5
municating with the proper authorities respecting the defect in
the present Act, specially relating to this subject. The Act is
defective in only applying to the over-crowding of houses. As
a general rule it is not the house that is over-crowded, but
one or more rooms, and as 1 have shown over and over again,
to the serious detriment of the occupants. With such a disease
as Small Pox, it is utterly impossible to prevent its increase
while over-crowding is permitted to exist; and that it is mainly
dependent on such a cause is obvious from the fact, that in
almost every instance where I have inspected the premises,
such an evil has been found. In some instances the drains
were defective, while in others they had been stopped for weeks,
110 intimation having been forwarded to the Inspector of such
an occurrence. In Leg Court the rooms were damp from
overflowing of the drains. In Wood Street four persons were
sleeping in an underground dwelling, and Measles originating
among them, was propagated to other portions of the house.
In St. Ermin's Hill, the room of No. 3 was stifling from overcrowding
and accumulations of different kinds. In all the
instances where Small Pox has occurred, notices have been
delivered to the effect thpt the premises should be thoroughly
cleansed, whitewashed and purified, and that they should not
be re-let to families having young children.
My attention having been directed by a householder in St.
George's, to a supposed nuisance arising from bodies buried
beneath Buckingham Chapel, I visited and very carefully
examined the Chkpel in question, and found that although a
large number of persons are buried beneath the floor of the
Chapel, yet there is such a depth of lime and other material
covering the coffins as entirely to prevent any nuisance, and I
was unable to detect the slightest offensive odour.
During the Quarter, 194 houses have been inspected, and
in the majority the necessary requirements have been completed.
In three instances it has been necessary to summon
the parties before the Magistrate. In Clark's yard, Artillery
Row, three pigs were detected and removed; in 21, Castle
Lane and 2 Wood, Street, the occupants have been removed