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in 1873; the mortality having never been so low for any two consecutive
years since 1840, and, by fair inference, never so low in any two years
since London existed. It is a general law that the mortality increases
with the density of the population; and this, no doubt, would have been
observed in London, had it not have been for the increased purity of the
water supply ; the new system of drainage which is now, though incomplete,
in operation; and some improvement in that most important
condition of life—LODGING."
Improved Lodging.
As regards improved lodging, from which much benefit to the public
health is expected to arise, such will probably soon be effected by the operations
of the Artizans' and Labourers' Dwellings' Act, 1875. This Act has
been the result of the spread of information among all classes; which
has been diffused by the exertions of individuals and societies engaged
in the promotion of Public Health since 1839, when the Poor Law
Commissioners published an appendix to their Fourth Annual Eeport,
in which the danger to the public health arising from the then existing
condition of the houses of the labouring classes was forcibly pointed
out; but nothing of any importance to improve the wretched condition
of the houses of the poor was done by the legislature until the passing
of Torrens' Act in 1868, and the more important Act of 1875. To the
passing of this Act the public is greatly indebted to the Right Honourable
Eichard Assheton Cross, Secretary of State for the Home Department.
The memorials of the Corporation of the Royal College of Physicians,
and of the Council of the Charity Organization Society, and other Societies
engaged in the promotion of improved dwellings of the labouring
classes—the former memorial presented to the Right Honourable
Benjamin Disraeli, and the latter to the Home Secretary—had unquestionably
considerable influence in obtaining the Act of 1875. " Torrens'
Act," although it has only been very partially enforced, has nevertheless,
in some districts, been highly beneficial in obtaining for the poor better
house accommodation.
The memorial of the Council of the Charity Organization Society states
—"That the power intrusted to local authorities to condemn houses as
unfit for human habitation is insufficient to bring about the requisite
improvements, inasmuch as the power of closing and removal can only in
practice be put in force against tenements which are of the most ruinous and
obviously unhealthy character; while the space occupied by such houses,
without the addition of adjacent areas, may be, and often is, too limited
in extent to be of any value as a site for dwellings constructed on sound
sanitary principles."