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notices upon the occupiers of the rooms under the Sanitary Act, instead
of upon the owner of the premises.
Slaughter-houses. In November, the Slaughter-houses were
duly inspected by the Sanitary Committee. They were 34 in number,
kept by 33 butchers. They were found to be in good order.
Cow-houses. These were examined at the same time as the
Slaughter-houses. They numbered 27, kept by 24 cow-keepers; the
number of cows being 270. Various nuisances connected with them
were ordered to be removed.
Bake-houses These were inspected by the Sanitary Committee
in the spring of the year. They were 72 in number, and were in fair
order. But it appeared to me, that some of them were not in so cleanly
a condition as was to be expected; perhaps in consequence of their not
having been inspected last year.
Sanitary Improvements- During the year, the following
Sanitary Improvements were effected, viz:—204 feet of pipe-sewer were
laid down; 22 sewers were cleansed; 6 new gullies were constructed,
25 trapped, and 274 cleansed; 31 house drains were laid down, and 38
houses drained; 19 cesspools were destroyed, and waterclosets substituted
for them; 218 loads of soil were removed from the sewers and
gullies, and 2 new urinals erected,—1 in Cobham Row, and 1 in Bowling
Green Lane.
A large number of house-cleansings and other removals of nuisances
were also effected during the year; and the closets in many of the courts
and alleys were flushed with disinfectants.
Clerkenwell Explosion. I must not conclude, without
noticing this most diabolical outrage, which occurred on the 13th of
December, in Corporation Lane, and rended the country with its
attendant horrors. It cannot be summed up in better words than those
of the "Times," viz:—
"By the terrific violence of the explosion in a confined and crowded
locality, 7 persons were killed outright; 6 more died from its effects
according to the coroner's inquests; 5 in addition owe their deaths indirectly
to this means; one young woman is in a mad-house; 40 mothers
were prematurely confined, and 20 of their babes died from the effects
of the explosion on the women; while others of the children are dwarfed
and unhealthy. One mother is now a raving maniac; 120 persons were
wounded; 50 went into St. Bartholomew's, Gray's Inn Lane, and King's
College Hospitals; 15 are permanently injured, with loss of eyes, legs,