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be unfit for habitation, have been greatly altered, and to some extent
improved; but as there is no current of air through Nos. 18 and 19 it is
questionable whether they can be made fit for habitation.
6.—The unused cellars belonging to eight houses in Upper Keate Street
have been filled up, in consequence of the effluvium which was caused
by the tenants throwing into them all sorts of refuse; and as many of the
unused cellars in the houses occupied by the poor are made receptacles for
filth, they ought all to be filled up.
The example which has been set by the owner of Easington Buildings
is well worthy of imitation; for the opening out to public view of all the
enclosed courts, and so admitting a free current of air, will not only improve
the physical health of the people, but will likewise improve their moral
condition. The making of new thoroughfares has its advantages, but more
good would be done to the public health by causing a freer circulation of air
in those courts which are inhabited by the poor.
Bate of Mortality in the District.
It might reasonably have been expected from the unproved condition
of the District, as regards the sewerage, paving, and cleansing, that the
rate of mortality would have decreased; but, from the returns of deaths,
from the year 1857 to 1871, it appears that the rate of mortality has varied
very little from year to year, except in the year I860, when the deathrate
was considerably increased, by the prevalence of cholera as an
epidemic. In the year 1861, when the population was 78,970, the deaths
were 2,331, including the 366 deaths in the London Hospital; while in
1871, in a population of 76,332, the deaths were 2,465, including the 551 in
the London Hospital. If we exclude all the deaths in the London Hospital,
in each of these years, it will appear that the rate of mortality in 1861 was
24.8 per 1000, while in 1871 it was 25.0 per 1000. If we exclude only
the deaths in the London Hospital of those persons who, at the time of their
admission, resided in other districts, and include in the calculation the deaths
of those persons who died from accident, whether they had been resident in
this district or elsewhere, it will be seen that the rate of mortality in the
former year was 27.2 per 1000, and in the latter 27.8 per 1000. If, however,
we compare the rate of mortality at the present time with that of
1838, it will be seen that a very considerable diminution of the death-rate
has taken place, the rate being in 1838, excluding the deaths in the London
Hospital, 38.6 per 1000, and for the whole of Loudon it was 28.0 per 1000.
From the Registrar General's returns, it appears that the rate of mortality
for the whole of London, in 1861, was 23.2 per 1000, and in 1871 it was
24.7 per 1000. The lowest rate of mortality in London, from the years
1840 to 1871, occurred in 1850, when it was 21.0 per 1000.
The deaths from fever, which were formerly so great in London, and
especially in this District, are now greatly reduced. The number of these
deaths in London in 1861, among a population of 2,803,989, was 1754;