View report page

4
The number of cases of illness among the poor attended by the Medical Officers of
the Union is annually increasing ; although from the large number of houses, chiefly
occupied by the poor, which has been taken down for improvements during the last
few years, it is probable that a decrease in the population has taken place. The number
of cases of illness among the poor attended by the Medical Officers of the Union, in
1860, was 11,392; in 1861, 13,724; in 1862, 14,270; in 1863, 14,564; in 1864, 14,932;
in 1865, 15,594 ; and in 1866, 16,502.
Since my last Quarterly Report another Water-waste Preventer has been erected.
There are now 23 in operation in the district.
The following return shows the amount of work done by the Sanitary Inspectors
during the quarter :—
Houses systematically visited and rooms measured to ascertain the cubic capacity 1,007
Number of rooms found to be overcrowded, the space being less than 300 cubic 67
feet for each person, reckoning two children for one adult
Number of cases of indecent occupation discovered 44
Preliminary Notices served 645
Compulsory Orders issued for 95 premises 26
Summonses heard at Police Courts 4
Houses in which the rooms or passages have been whitewashed 286
Dust-bins provided 67
Privies cleansed or repaired 198
Water-butts or Cisterns supplied 95
Drains in Houses improved 131
Cesspools abolished 1
Accumulations of Dung and other Offensive Matter removed 91
Area Gratings, Cellar Flaps, &c., repaired 20
Trades' Nuisances abated* 4
Cellars used as Dwellings discontinued for such use 2
Houses closed, the same being unfit for human habitation 31
Instances where corpses were kept for periods varying from 9 to 21 days in 3
inhabited rooms
Animals so kept as to be a nuisance, removed 4
Yards of Houses paved or the paving repaired 187
In addition to this return, the Inspectors report that they have forwarded to the
Police Authorities several notices of dangerous structures, and have also given intimation
to them of all the rooms which they have found, on a house to house visitation, to
be occupied by more than one family. In all such cases, the Police may take proceedings
to compel the landlords to register the houses as common lodging-houses.
By the Inspectors' returns, it appears that three cases of a prolonged retention of a
body in the room occupied by a family as a living and sleeping apartment, have come
under their notice during the last quarter. One of these occurred at No. 1, Black Lion
Yard, where the corpse of a man was kept for 9 days ; another, at No. 2, Parliament
Court, where the corpse of a youth who had died from fever was kept for 10 days. In this
room two other children of the same family were suffering at the same time from fever.
The third case was that of a man who died at No. 2, Princes-street, whose corpse was
kept for 21 days.
* Note—1 Steam issuing from the Animal Charcoal Works in Back Chureh Lane. 2 The Malleable
Iron Works in Back Church Lane 3 The Oil Refinery Works in Queen Street. Mile End New Town,
complaints, however, are still made respecting the nuisance from these Works. 4 The Bone-Boiling
Premises in Buck's Row.