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7
The importance of thoroughly cleansing the streets has been forcibly
dwelt upon by the Registrar General in his last Annual Report upon the
Mortality of London. He states that " London has acquired almost as much
fame for that highly agglutinative compound, its mud, as for its fogs; and
perhaps there is more connexion than is generally supposed between them. It
would be a humble but invaluable sanitary work if the streets were subject to
a perfect system of purification; if they were frequently and thoroughly
cleansed and dried. The attention of Boards of Works may be well directed
to this end. The present expedient, by which householders who pay rates for
parochial management are expected to clean the pavement in front of their
houses, is unjust in principle and futile in practice. The whole width of
thoroughfare, from frontage to frontage, should get the benefit of the same
brooms and shovels. Old persons, whose avocations compel them to be much
out of doors, in feebly urging their steps over filthy streets, waste much of that
strength which should be husbanded for the employments by which they live.
And how can poor people be expected to keep the inside of their houses free
from damp and dirt, when all the adjacent exterior is a . mud-ocean ?. A
good scavenger is a practical teacher of that cleanliness which is said to be
next to godliness; and if the streets were well kept, the crowds who frequent
them would read excellent plain sermons in the stones." The Registrar General
concludes his valuable report by expressing a regret that fever in the Metropolis
is on the increase.
I am,
Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
JOHN LIDDLE.
15, Great Alie Street.