View report page

13
' mud-ocean ?' A good scavenger is a practical teacher of that cleanliness
which is said to be next to godliness; and if the streets were well kept, the
crowds who frequent them would read excellent plain sermons in the
stones."
In my Report for the Quarter ending December, 1865, in enumerating
the several causes of ill health, I made the following remarks, which I hope
will receive due attention from your Board.
"The last causc of ill-health among the population of London, that I
shall mention, is the dirty state of our public streets, and the accumulation
of house refuse in the dust-bins. It is indeed a great luxury, as well as a
matter most important to the public health, to have clean streets; but this
cannot be enjoyed without considerable expense being incurred. It has been
considered proper, in a sanitary point of view, that all the streets in London
should be cleansed every day, and the public dust-bins emptied daily. The
thorough cleansing of the streets throughout the Metropolis would have an
excellent moral effect upon the inhabitants of the poor localities, who would
then have a great inducement to keep the interior of their houses clean; for,
at present, from the dirty state of the public ways, the poor, who live in
houses let out in separate tenements, cannot be induced to remove the dirt
from the passages and stairs which is continually being trodden in by each
tenant.
No accumulation of dust should be allowed to remain in the areas or
back yards of any house for a period longer than a week.
So far as the cleansing of the streets is concerned, London should be
regarded as one district; not that it should be managed by one Board, but
that each Board should adopt a uniform system of scavengering. Unless the
daily cleansing of the streets is carried out by each District Board, the public
generally will not derive much advantage by the activity and liberality
displayed in this matter by one or two Districts only: for if the daily
cleansing of the streets be not general throughout London, the dirt of the
neglected Districts will be carried by the traffic into the adjoining clean
ones, and thus give to all of them the appearance of not having been
cleansed."
On sanitary, on moral, and on economical grounds (for the poor-rate in
unhealthy Districts is always greater than in healthy ones), I most strenuously
urge upon the attention of the Board the desirability of having all the streets
in the District cleansed daily.
ANNUAL REPORT.
The number of births registered in this District during the year has
been 2660, and the deaths 2470, including those of non-residents in the
London Hospital (465). In tho preceding year, the births were 2688, and
the deaths 2613, including the deaths of 377 non-residents.