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45
the road; there to be diluted and disseminated by the
winds. We may ventilate as much as we please, we may
destroy, to all appearance, our sewer gases; but the only
safe and effectual remedy consists in removing the animal
and vegetable matter before decomposition sets in, and
this can only be done by frequent and efficient flushings
and cleansing. In seasons of wet weather, when there is
much land-water, our sewers do not appear to be large
enough to carry off the water, and, as a consequence, it
finds its way backwards up the private drains into the
basements of the houses. Many and serious complaints
have been made, and very justly, as it is likely to be dangerous
to the health, and certainly destroys the comfort
of people.
Complaints have been made of the unhealthiness of
certain parts of the District; notably of the Clapham
Junction Estate, and Gwynne Road. W ith respect to the
former it is said, and on good authority, that more persons
attend the Consumption Hospital from the neighbourhood
of Clapham Junction than any other district. What then
is the cause? Some ten years ago there was scarcely a
house on the Estate, now there are over a thousand. It
was then a swamp. Can this previous condition be the
remote cause? It is well known that chest complaints
are more prevalent in persons who reside in damp localities
than in dry. The streets are well drained and all made
up; and the houses should be built with the basements
well off the ground, and so arranged as to admit a free
passage of air.
After carefully going over the deaths which have
occurred from Lung diseases on this Estate—and this is the
only means by which we can judge of the amount of sickness,
no means for the registration of each case of disease
existing—they are not more numerous than in any other
equally populous portion of the District.