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1927
10
bronchitis death-rate in 1921 to 1925 for Manchester and the
group of towns near Manchester, such as Salford, Blackburn,
Bolton, Preston, Stockport, Burnley, wigan, Oldham, Bury and
Rochdale, is remarkably and consistently high, being in every
case over 50 per cent. greater than that of the country as a whole,
and in some cases nearly three times as high as that of towns
like Eastbourne and Bournemouth. The bronchitis death-rate in
some of these towns was nearly twice as high as that of Greater
London, although the conditions in London as far as atmospheric
pollution is far from satisfactory.
It has been shown that when light passes through a
disperse system such as a suspension of smoke particles in the air
it undergoes a scattering which is inversely proportional to the
wave length of the ray. Thus the violet and ultra violet rays,
which are known to be the most valuable for human health are
cut off to the greatest extent by smoke. The amount of ultra
violet rays received in Kingsway, London, is only about half that
received in Hampstead, and probably less than a quarter of that
in the country.
In Acton, we are particularly, interested in the smoke
problem on account of the large number of factories in the
district, and the Council encouraged their Inspectors to become
proficient in their duties respecting smoke prevention. Mr.
Kinch and Mr. Jenkins obtained the certificate of the Sanitary
Institute for Smoke Inspectors, and the Council recognised their
work by increasing their salary. The Council felt that it was
not sufficient for a Smoke Inspector simply to make observations
of chimneys and take action against defaulters.
The Inspectors now have a knowledge of the principles
which underlie combustion in the furnace, particularly the boiler
furnace. In many instances, they have brought about reforms
which have at once freed the chimneys from smoke nuisance and
at the same time yield a handsome financial return to those who
have accepted their advice.
In some instances where black smoke has been observed
it is found that the boiler plant is too small, and the furnace is
overloaded with fuel. When the plant is working under normal
conditions with ordinary draught, the boiler is not capable of
generating sufficient steam for the requirements of the factory.
Instead of replacing it with a larger boiler or providing an
additional one, an attempt is made to obtain the steam bv means
of excessive fuel; the stoker piles on the fuel and instead of
keeping a fire of a normal depth of 4 to 6 inches the fire is often
as much as 15 inches deep. With such a depth of fire it is
impossible to obtain proper combustion, as the supplv of primary
air is impeded by the thickness of the fire, and the space between