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the houses which cannot be abolished, owing to the absence of sewers within
a hundred feet of the houses, Little or nothing has been done in this Parish
in regard to the sewerage of streets built before the Metropolis Local Management
Act was passed. It is very much to be desired, that now the Amendment
Act is passed, which, it may be presumed, sets at rest the question as to
the manner in which the expenses of such new sewerage are to be met, some
measures will be at once adopted to provide proper drainage for those parts
of the Parish which are at present destitute of it.
The Main Drainage, which is now so nearly completed by the Metropolitan
Board of Works, so far as it affects this district, will be of little service to the
Parish unless the sewers, which enter into these main intercepting channels,
be well constructed, and all parts in which there are streets or houses, be
provided with sewerage.
Many neighbouring parishes have been busy in making new sewerage, and
the benefits will be shortly seen in a diminished death-rate, and in a reduction
of sickness. Such has invariably been the result in towns where efficient
drainage has been carried out. St. Pancras has many natural advantages, and
should have as low a death-rate as any part of London; there are, however,
at present many districts, whose mortality is lower. Should it not be your
ambition, Gentlemen, who are entrusted with the management of so large and
important a district, to render that district as salubrious as possible, so that
persons in coming to London to seek for a healthy residence, will be referred
to St. Pancras as affording one of the most healthy and desirable. The value
of property is always affected, and will, I am convinced every year with the
extension of knowledge, be more and more so, by the death-rate which prevails
in a locality; and thus proprietors will be directly benefited, and the rates
will bring larger returns to the parochial exchequer, in proportion as sanitary
measures are carried out.
I have the honor to remain,
Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
THOMAS HILLIER.