View report page

24
A.s the periodical examination of all the houses in a district
which are occupied by the poorer classes must from the foundation
on which all real Sanitary work is based, I shall now
proceed very briefly to discuss the results of our inspections,
premising that second or third inspections the same year, as well
as visits to see if the nuisances aro abated, are not mentioned in
our tables. In 1867 when the present system of inspection was
first carried out, there were 5512 houses inspected, and in 1871,
6124; the excess in number examined this year, consisting of
houses which have been built and occupied since 1867. The
6124 houses contained 26,167 inhabited rooms, excluding washhouses
and kitchens not used as dwelling rooms, 3974 families,
and 36,177 inmates. Amongst these 36,177 inhabitants, 691
cases of Small Pox, 40 of Scarlet Fever, 11 of Typhus or
Typhoid aud 5 of simple Fever came to our notice. There were
also no less than 2419 houses, or about 39 per cent. of the whole,
which contained some nuisance which rendered them, more or
less, unfit to live in. I do not mean that they were uninhabitable,
but that they were more less injurious to the inhabitants.
In addition to the 6124 houses inspected at their proper time,
there were 928 houses inspected in consequence of epidemic
diseases having occurred therein. Many of these were good
class houses in which deaths from Small Pox or other eruptive
fevers had occured. There were also 475 premises inspected in
consequence of complaints received; 177 cow-sheds and
slaughter-houses visited, many on several occasions; 150 greengrocers'
and 60 fishmongers' yards inspected; 123 bake-houses
visited, and other places, making an aggregate of 8129 premises
inspected during the year.
There is one very important point connected with the tabular
statement of Nuisances at the end of the appendix, viz., that
only 475 nuisances were brought to our notice by complaints out