London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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St James's 1866

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St James's, Westminster]

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15
these, and a most important one, was the inconvenience
caused by the non-removal of the deposit
canted by some most unexpected and unusually heavy
falls of snow. The correspondence that has appeared
upon this subject will still be fresh in the
minds of all, and has been remarkable for the
aide differences of opinion expressed with regard
to the wisest course to be pursued under such
exceptionable circumstances, all or most of which
opinions had much sound sense in them, but
had all to be modified by locality. The Parish
of St. James's happens to be most unfortunately
situated for such a disaster, as no open spaces
exist in which to shoot the snow should that
be desirable, and carting it, or any portion of
it away, would render much deliberation necessary
before such an expense as would be involved,
was incurred, even if the practicability of doing
so were not a matter of great doubt, and the
immense traffic that is constantly occurring through
the principal thoroughfares of the Parish, renders
the attempt to heap snow in the centre or sides
of the roadways, extremely hazardous, to say nothing
of the unpleasant result of a rapid thaw.
As this catastrophe is not unlikely to recur,
perhaps oftener and more severely than formerly,