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26
after rain, there existsd in the back yards, pools of stagnant
water. I visited this place six times in rainy and dry weather.
The drains are untrapped, and there is a pan, but no water
supply to the the closet. The yards in other respects are clean
and orderly, I never could perceive any foul smell, or did I
observe any pool of stagnant water, and in this statement I am
borne out by the testimony of the Surveyor and other Officers
of this Vestry.
At the Bell public-house in Church-street, the water finds its
way occasionally into the cellar. It seems to have some connection
with the high level sewer, which runs in front of the house.
At No. 3, Baltic-place, there is a full cesspool and no drainage.
My attention has again been directed to the piggery on
Debnam's ground. During the winter months there is little or
no smell, but I fear that with the return of spring the nuisance
will reappear.
Some loads of fish manure had been shot on garden ground
by the road-side near the Railway Arches, Rotherhithe Newroad.
On the service of a notice they were at once removed.
Nos. 3, 2, 3, and 4, Kenning's-buildings, were reported tome
by the Inspector, as being in a filthy and dilapidated state. On
the 7th of December we went to examine them. Nothing
was as it ought to be, the rooms were all dirty, and two of the
houses overcrowded, there being eleven inmates at No. 2 in a
three-roomed house, and twelve at No. 3 in a two-roomed house,
viz.:— two families, one of six persons in the room below, and
one of six in the room above.
The back yards of the four houses all communicate, and there
had been originally two privies, but one of them had become a
mere framework, without door or seat, and the second had no
door and only half a seat. There were strong proofs of the
consequences of such a state of things. The floor of a neighbouring
washhouse was covered with human filth, which was
also indiscriminately scattered about the yards; add to this,
every species of garbage, ashes, potato-parings, cabbage-leaves,
a dead cat, and half a bushel of stinking sprats, and some idea
may be formed of this nest of abominations. The sprats were
evidently a part of the spoiled stock-in-trade of the itinerant
fish-vender, residing at No. 3. I need not say, that such
uncleanness must cause and foster moral degradation and
impurity.
No time was lost in serving notices, and it is pleasing to be
able to state, the premises at this moment are being cleansed
and undergoing repair.
Fifty-four deaths were registered in December, the number
being increased by several inquests. Twenty-eight deaths, above