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8
It may, perhaps, be thought that as laws have been passed to prohibit
the occupation of houses unfit for habitation, and for the pulling down of
such houses as cannot be improved by any structural alterations, that such
laws are sufficient to effect all the improvements as regards the lowest class
of house property, and that it is only necessary for the several local Boards
to put in force the existing sanitary laws regarding house property of this
description.
Now, if the experience of all the Medical Officers of Health in London
coincides with mine (and I believe it does so), in regard to the benefit which
the public health would derive from the permanent closing of houses unfit
for habitation, or from the demolition of such houses, it will ^be found that,
on attempting to enforce the laws relating thereto, they are not sufficient
for the purpose. It has often been a matter of surprise to me
that the subject of the prevention of pauperism, of sickness, of crime,
and of the physical inability of the lower class of labourers to work,
has not taken a stronger hold on the public mind than it has
hitherto done. All persons who have spoken of the causes of ill
health among the labouring population, have dwelt strongly upon the
injurious effects of the wretched condition of the houses in which the poor
are compelled to dwell; yet few, if any, practical suggestions for their improvement,
have been put forth by this class of speakers—the evils are
pointed out and deplored — and there the matter ends. The time, however,
for talking, I hope, is now past, and action, I trust, will be taken to remove
the evils which are so well known and deplored. It is probable that, owing
to the enormous increase in local taxation which is now telliug upon the
ratepayers, occasioned by the ample provisions which the authorities are
compelled to make for the cure of sickness among our paupers, in the shape of
improved workhouse accommodation, additional medical attendance, the purchase
of drags, the formation of dispensaries, and the erection of hospitals, that
these heavy burdens will soon be so severely felt, that the ratepayers will
be compelled, in order to save themselves from additional expense, to inquire
very seriously whether the large amount of sickness, now so prevalent, may
not be diminished; and whether it would not be cheaper to spend a little
money in preventing disease, than to continue to spend so much in curing
it, and in providing for the relief of the numerous widows and orphans, and
of those so prostrated by the effects of disease, as to be physically unable to
maintain themselves by their labour. If in addition to the rates now imposed
upon the several parishes for the relief of pauper sickness, a special tax
were to be levied for the support of the sick in the public hospitals (the
levying of such a tax being by no means of unlikely occurrence, owing to
the depressed state of the funds of many of the public hospitals, which,
otherwise, must be partially closed), the inducement to direct public attention
to the prevention of disease would be further stimulated.