[Report 1877] / Medical Officer of Health, Manchester City.

  • Manchester (England). City Council. n 88637066.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1877] / Medical Officer of Health, Manchester City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    are spread over nearly tlie whole city, coupled with the very limited experience yet acquired of the result of extensive demolitions of house property, and the somewhat unsatisfactory results of the substitution of “ Barrack ” or “ Block ” buildings for the ordinary two-storied dwellings, a very grave case is before us, one requiring much consideration, and for which we may very reasonably desire to have larger experience from the pioneers of such movements as are now pressed upon us in other towns. It would be unjust to omit the statement that long before the presenta¬ tion of the memorial from the Sanitary Association, and long before the letter of Councillor Brierley, the subject matter of this Report had occupied the serious and earnest attention of the Chairman, of the Committee, and of the Officer of Health. It is scarcely necessary to remind you that nearly ten years ago the Officer of Health inaugurated a society for the erection of improved dwellings for the working classes. The society is still in existence, and the houses erected by it have had a death-rate of only 12*6 per 1,000 during the seven or eight years since their erection; and this fact increases the difficulty of substituting block buildings for the dwellings now occupied by the poor in insanitary districts. Whatever may be decided, the districts calling for earliest attention are situated in Ancoats and the eastern part of London-road Registration District, with one small block in Red Bank. John Leigh. The following letters have also been received by the Committee, and arc now submitted:— [copy.] “ Town Hall, Manchester, “ 22nd October, 1877. “ Dear Sir,-—With reference to your conversation with me last week, I have to inform jmu that the Statutory powers of the Corporation upon the subjects referred to are as follows. No account has, I may say, been taken of powers possessed by magistrates for these purposes, nor of any powers existing with respect to buildings in a ruinous or dangerous condition. “ Closing of Houses. “ ‘ The Manchester Corporation Waterworks and Improvement Act, 1867,’ section 41, enacts :— “ In any case where it is certified to the Corporation by an Inspector of Nuisances, or by any two medical practitioners, that any building or part of a building is unfit for human habitation, the Corporation may, by their order affixed conspicuously on such building or part of the building, declare the same is not fit for human habitation, and shall not, after a date therein to be specified, be
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