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warmer inside than the external air, acts like a chimney on its
surrounding's and chiefly on the ground on which it stands, and the
air therein which we call the ground air; thus our heated houses
ventilate themselves not only through the walls hut through the
ground on which the house stands. If there be any gas or other
smelling substance in the surrounding ground air, it will enter the
current of this ventilation.' And he alludes to an instance in which
the gas always penetrated into the best heated rooms and produced an
illness of the inmates, which was taken for typhoid fever.
Strenuous efforts have been made, especially in the last year, by
the Sanitary Authorities of the Parish to prevent the ground adjoining
dwellings being charged with animal matters. To effect this, not
only has much attention been given to ensure that drains are secure
from leakage, and to induce Owners to pave the yards of their houses,
but. also other premises, namely, stables and cowhouses and such like,
with their adjoining yards, have been ordered to be paved with
impervious material which could be washed and swept clean, and the
ground underneath kept dry.
I have next to report to your Vestry what has been done in the
year with dwellings dangerous to health.
The Inspector's Report shows that 839 houses were inspected and
7G8 of them were in a condition endangering health. The drains of
many leaked into the ground under and around. the dwellings; the
roofs of many houses leaked; the floors were here and there so broken
that persons were liable to be thrown down and injured; the walls
damp and even wet to the hand. This dampness arose partly from the
fact that the yards were not properly paved. They were paved mostly
with decayed bricks, with little or on cement between them, incapable of
preventing water soaking into the ground; consequently the ground
under the houses being wet, and evaporation of necessity taking place
from it, as the air flowed up from the ground into the houses, the
walls of many of the dwellings were rendered damp, and this dampness
tended to make the atmosphere of the houses injuriously moist.
Moreover this dampness of the walls dangerously lessened the