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the wealth or poverty of the inhabitants, and the nature of the diseases
which prevail among them.
The death rate in the several streets and courts, comprised in the last
two Schemes which I have submitted to the Metropolitan Board of Works,
varies from 105.2 per 1000 (Sugar Loaf Court) to 8.3 per 1000 (Inkhorn
Court); and from 59.2 per 1000 in Wentworth-street to 6.5 in Newcastlestreet
; and in two places, New Goulston-street and Hebrew-place, no deaths
in 1874 are recorded.
If, however, we inquire into the causes of death in the majority of
the confined courts in the District, it will be seen that the mortality from
scrofulous diseases and their congeners, is, in relation to the total mortality,
as high as 33.8 per cent., which clearly indicates the unhealthiness of the
locality; for such diseases are principally caused by defective ventilation.
The unhealthiness of the several localities embraced in these Schemes
is not only shown by the causes of death prevailing therein, but by the
evidence of the medical practitioners who have the medical charge of these
areas.
Of all the places in this District which require demolition the most
urgent is Castle-alley, for, from its confined situation, it is impossible to
render it fit for habitation.
If Scheme No. 3 should be approved by the Metropolitan Board of
Works, and if, in their discretion, they should deem it advisable to extend
it so as to include the houses on the east side of Petticoat-lane, a splendid
opportunity will be afforded for effecting a most beneficial improvement in a
sanitary point of view; especially so, if the City authorities should carry
out a similar improvement on the west side of Petticoat-lane.
As some misapprehension appears to exist as regards the duty of the
Medical Officer of Health in making an official representation under the
Artizans' Dwellings Act to the Metropolitan Board of Works, I have ventured
to make the few following remarks on the subject: From the provisions
of the several sections of the Artizans' Dwellings Act, 1875, it
appears to me that the Medical Officer of Health is required to make an
official representation to the local authority appointed by this Act, whenever
he sees cause to make the same, that any houses, courts or alleys, within a
certain area under the jurisdiction of the local authority, are unfit for
human habitation; and that such unfitness for human habitation may
reasonably be attributed to the closeness, narrowness, and bad arrangement,
or the bad condition, of the streets and houses, or groups of houses, within
such area, or to the want of light, air, ventilation, or proper conveniences;
or to any other sanitary defects; and that the evils connected with such
houses, courts, or alleys, cannot be effectually remedied otherwise than by