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As indicated by statistics the mutability is not less
remarkable. The resident population, which was 65,609 in
1851, had declined to 59,926 in 1881—a decrease of 5,68*3.
The number of "inhabited houses" was less by 437 in 1885
than 1855, the figures being 6,205 and 6,642 respectively.
The number of separate assessments had risen from 7,429
in 1855 to 8,602 in 1888; while the rateable value had
increased from £251,226 to £740,596—an addition of
£489,370. The poor rate, which in 1855 was 3s. in the
£, was Is 7£d. in 1888, notwithstanding the heavy demands
in the latter year to meet the requirements of the
Metropolitan Asylums Board, the Couuty, and the largely
developed police force. The general and district rates in
1855 amounted to Is. 6d. in the £, as against 2s. 7d., in 1888,
in which latter was included 9d. for the purposes of the
School Board and 8£d. for the Metropolitan Board. The
death-rate per thousand for the first mentioned year was
27.5, or 32 above that of the metropolis, for the lastmentioned
year it was 19.1 so that in the thirty-two years
it had fallen 8.4, and had become 0.6 lower than the general
average for London.
Of the condition of the District when the Board entered
upon its duties it may be stated that there were six miles
and three quarters of streets and places not provided with
sewers, 152,624 square yards of carriage-way unpaved and
25,390 square yards of footway unpaved. No less than
1,115 cesspools were emptied and filled up during the first
two years of the Board's existence, in which period also
615 open privies were converted into water-closets, 382 new
closets were constructed, 968 closets were first fitted with
water-supply apparatus, and 543 dust bins were constructed.
In his first annual report the medical officer of health
remarks that "in houses surrounded by an atmosphere of
deadly gases, imperfectly ventilated, barlly supplied with
water, damp, and dirty, it was not a matter of surprise that
death should have made such ravages; and the influence of