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The attention of the Clerk to the Parish Estates has been drawn to the
unhealthiness of the locality, but as the lease of this property has not
expired, it appears that he can do nothing with it. Our legislature has not
been sufficiently mindful of the public health by their having permitted
such unhealthy houses to have been built as are to be found in every district
in London, where every available space has been occupied by houses
that are so closely packed together as to render them mere nurseries of
fever and other Epidemic diseases. The attention of the legislature has
upon many occasions within these few years been forcibly directed to the
unhealthiness of the dwellings of the poor, and it is now manifest that laws
must be enacted to prohibit houses from being built unless plans of the proposed
buildings are submitted to, and approved of, by the Local Board, not
only as regards the drainage, but as regards the sanitary arrangements.
Large sums of public, money are annually spent in purchasing property for
the purpose of improving the means of traffic in the principal thoroughfares
of the metropolis, but hitherto, no part of the public money has been
expended for the purpose of taking down such houses occupied by the poor
as are unfit for habitation, and throwing open the site on which the unhealthy
houses stand. But if I read correctly, the 46th and 47th Clause of
the New Public Health Act, Local Boards have now the power of purchasing
lands for any purposes of the Local Government Act, (1858), the Public
Health Act, (1848), and the Lands Consolidation Act, (1845). It is,
therefore, most desirable that the attention of the Board should be directed
to the powers conferred upon them, whereby they can now carry out the
twenty-second recommendation of the Health of Town Commissioners who
were appointed by Her Majesty in 1844, to inquire into the sanitary condition
of large towns and populous districts in England and Wales. This
recommendation is as follows:—That, subject to proper control, the Local
Administrative Body be empowered to raise money for the purchase of property
for the purpose of Opening Thoroughfares and Widening Streets,
Courts and Alleys, so as to improve the ventilation of the densely crowded
districts of towns, as well as to increase the general conveniences of traffic.
The Reports of this Royal Commission are most valuable, and the attentive
perusal of them will amply repay any person feeling an interest in this
important subject. If, however, there be not sufficient power given by
the "New Health Act to the Local Board to effect the improvements,
then additional powers ought to be granted to them.
There are other most important provisions in the Public Health Act
which demands your most serious attention, such as the 24th, 25th, 26th,
27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 37th, 38th and 39th Clauses. All these
Clauses are most important as bearing upon the public health, but in