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much property of a very wretched description, especially in Fulham, diseases
of an infectious character have been deprived of many of their wonted opportunities
for spreading.
Radical defects, however, in construction render all ones efforts far from
satisfactory in dealing with many cottages of our poor. Built of most wretched
refuse bricks, of timber in which worm and canker have for many years been
revelling, with plastering and mortar of such loose cohesive power, that the
walls defy the hottest days in summer to dry them.
A general carelessness and inattention to cleanly habits amongst the occupants
adds considerably to our difficulties, whilst constant tendencies to overcrowding,
with want of proper drainage and supply of water, complete the list of disadvantages.
The present law, as applicable to overcrowding, is eminently
deficient, for I have seen as lamentable instances of packing human beings in
cottages occupied by single families as possibly can happen in any held by two
or more. The 29th section of the Nuisances Removal Act takes cognizance ordy
of the latter, whilst single families, however numerous, can herd together with
comparative impunity and recklessness. This with other manifest deficiencies in
this Sanitary Statute have long occupied the attention of the Metropolitan
Association of Officers of Health.
The practical defects which were alluded to in my Report for 1850 have in
many districts been often and severely felt, and call for an amended Act. The
power to prevent improper detention of dead bodies, an unrestricted power to
enforce a supply of pure and wholesome water for domestic purposes, to carry
out the removal of infected persons from crowded neighbourhoods, and to prevent
the exposure of persons suffering from infectious diseases, such as Fever
and Small-Pox, in the public streets and vehicles, in fact an incorporation of
some of the provisions of the Diseases Prevention Act, without the necessity for
a special Order in Council, is required. Some effort should be made by Vestries
and District Boards to urge upon the Government to take this subject into their
consideration.
An amended Bill should also give the local authority some power to issue
regulations under the sanction of the Secretary of State for the conduct of some
of the more offensive trades within their district.
The supply of enormous quantities of diseased meat to the London markets
still demands the attention of the authorities, for although in the City of London
many tons are annually seized, there is yet an immense amount which escapes
detection, or is without the pale of that authority, and this finds its way to the
sausage makers or to the low-class butchers of the poorer neighbourhoods.
The baneful influence of such supply on public health cannot be over stated;
so great indeed has been the spread of contagious maladies amongst cattle that
the attention of the Government has been engaged in framing an Act of Parliament
for their prevention, and for regulating the sale of cattlc in fairs and
markets.
The poor however are not the only class to whom this subject carries interest.
The flesh of animals slaughtered under various stages of diseases capable of
conveying poison to the human system, does not in every instance present that
outward visible appearance as shall command attention from untutored eyes,
and hence the parts of many such supply the tables of the better classes,
subject only to the scrutiny of domestic servants. The heads of families should
carefully examine from time to time the meat supplied. The ordinary characters
of sound and wholesome meat arc firmness of texture, with, at any rate, a
moderate amount of fat. The surface of a recent cut should present a bright