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28
FILTH.
"Mr. Radcliffe says, page 293.
"But the East 'District cannot
claim a pre-eminence of filth. In
the west of the metropolis and south
of the river there are many localities
as filthy. Neither Rotherithe, nor
Southwark, nor Dermondsey, nor
Westminster can be compared favorably
with the east of London. yet
the three former places suffered in
a trifling degree as compared with
the latter. Not that filth was
altogother inactive. I would imply
that its presence was insufficient to
explain in any degree the predominance
of the epidemic in the
east districts. But filth played a
part in propagating the disease in
certain blind alleys and contracted
courts when the disease found admission
to them; and it was probably
an important agent in the
spread of the malady in Blue
Anchor Yard, WhitechapeL"
REMARKS.
I am utterly amazed at such a
statement made on such an authority
too; that part of the west of the metropolis
and south of the river, are as
filthy as the cast of London, while
Bermondsey, Southwark, & Rotherhithe,
are even worse. So then, it
comes to this, if my comprehension
does not mislead me, that after all
the talk about the Cholera explosion
in connection with the filth of the
localities, and all the complaints
that have risen up in judgment, the
only true type of the kind where it
played an important part, was tobe
found in Blue Ancbor Yard,
WhitechapeL
I am now constrained in contradistinction
to this official statement
of the filth of the East without
facts, to tender for consideration
my report with facts.
1. The numerous localities at the
West end, (Westminster probably,)
and Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, and
Southwark, in the shape of offensive
factories, trades, &c., to which reference
is made, which Mr. Radcliffe
pits against the East for
pre-eminence; even if so far correct
are nothing to the point. In my
Special Report on the Cholera of
1866, which is quoted in the Blue
Book, on this matter by this gen-