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39
III. Sanitary Inspections, &c., during the Year—Remedies
Suggested and Applied to Remove the Evils Disclosed—
Importance of Drainage, the Abolition of Cesspools,
and an Abundant Supply of Pure Water.
It would far exceed the limits of my report to discuss in detail every
known or supposed cause of the deterioration of the public health in this
sub-district; nor is there, perhaps, so great a necessity for me to do so
as in the cases of some of my colleagues, seeing that I have already, in
the published pamphlet before alluded to, fully expressed my views upon
over-crowding, defective ventilation, and other kindred topics.* The
mere enumeration of many of the evils disclosed by the sanitary inspections,
the details of which have from time to time been laid before the
Board in my fortnightly reports, and by the Inspector of Nuisances,
has alone, I have reason to believe, served to suggest the appropriate
remedies.
Excluding the details of the examination of slaughter-houses, which
have already formed the subject of a special report from each of the
Health Officers, the subjoined table will show at one view what has been
accomplished towards improving the general sanitary condition of the
parish during the past year: —

Besides the above, many minor nuisances have been removed by the
vigilance of the Inspector, and some considerable pains have been taken
by myself, by friendly admonitions, to secure the cordial co-operation of
the parties most concerned in the success of the measures which it has
been found necessary to adopt. In many instances I have succeeded
beyond my expectations; and in the matter of ventilation, in the lower
class of dwellings, it is not a little gratifying to find that many of the
poor, to whom I had endeavoured to explain the principles upon which a
due supply of air ought to be secured to their close rooms and confined
dormitories, have, as far as seemed within their power, attended to my
recommendations; and perforated plates, judiciously inserted as ventilators,
are now to be seen in cottages where before every possible contrivance
had been resorted to to exclude rather than admit that essential element
* Overcrowding, though not observed to so great an extent as formerly, still goes
on in this sub-district to a degree far beyond what ought to be allowed. I had, a
short time since, a patient in a cottage, or rather hovel on the Lower Common,
containing one room about 12 feet by 8, in which a dozen persons were in the
habit of sleeping and eating, though that they should be able to eat under such
circumstances was to me a marvel. The stench on entering was sometimes most
sickening. I had prepared a lengthened table relating to the subject of overcrowding,
but find my space will not admit of its insertion.