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the houses, and the private and public privies, and the water supply, are
in proper condition. The entire District, I may observe, consists of 406
statute acres, or about two-thirds of a square mile, and having a total
length of streets of about 21 miles, and it is principally inhabited by the
poorer classes, probably to a greater extent than any other District in the
metropolis; and for this reason it requires more attention to be paid to it
by the Sanitary Officers; in fact, it is an exceptional District, as is shown
by the immense amount of sickness among the paupers, which I have
already mentioned, and in consequence, it requires an exceptional mode of
sanitary supervision. It, therefore, will not admit of a comparison being
made with any other district, as regards the number of Inspectors of
Nuisances which is required, more especially when we call to mind that,
during the time of the cholera, 40 nuisances, of a recurring character, upon
an average, were reported every day at the office of the sanitary department.
Further, the Inspectors have to write all the preliminary notices,
and make copies of them in books prepared for the purpose. These books
are so indexed, that any member of the Board can find, without trouble,
the kind of sanitary work that has been done in every poor locality in the
District. The Inspectors have also to prepare, and serve, compulsory
notices—to regularly visit those premises in which noxious trades are
carried on—to make repeated calls at the houses in which sanitary defects
have been discovered and notices served for remedying the same, in order
to sen that the work has been completed.
All houses which require sanitary improvement, and for which notices
have been served, must be visited, upon an average, at least four times,
before the work ordered to be done is completed.
The 23 cow-houses and the 44 slaughter-houses in the District, must
be inspected twice at least in every quarter, and a record made of the
sanitary condition of each in the prescribed form. The 79 bake-houses
must be inspected once or twice in every year.
The Inspectors have been instructed by me to visit, daily, the 160
public dust-bins in the District, and as the streets in the District are,
as above stated, about 21 miles in length, this Work necessarily takes
up a considerable portion of their time.
The importance of having the public dust-bins emptied every day,
cannot be over-estimated. This was made manifest only a few days ago,
when one of the public dust-bins, which the Inspector had found on the
preceding day to have been empty, was, on the following morning, filled
with offensive matter as to create such a nuisance, that the dust-men engaged
in emptying this bin, applied to the office for some disinfecting powder, to
enable them to complete the work.