Dr. Ballard's report on the sanitary condition and administration of the Isle of Wight.
- Ballard, Edward
- Date:
- 1881
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Dr. Ballard's report on the sanitary condition and administration of the Isle of Wight. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![giving of certificates under sect. 120 is a proceeding on tlie part of a liealtli officer essential to good administration, and a practice wliich ought to be systematically pursued. But it is a practice entirely neglected, not in Newport only, but throughout the Isle of Wight.] For some time past, in consequence of the failing health of the late Inspector of Nuisances, the systematic work of this officer has been much neglected. But at the time of my inspection a new Surveyor, who is also Inspector of Nuisances, had been appointed, and I found him actively engaged in the endeavour to make himself acquainted with the condition of the borough, and in getting obvious nuisances dealt with under the Statute. He is paid a salary of 60/. per annum as Surveyor, and 60/. per annum as Inspector of Nuisances (appointed under the Board’s Order.) He has not as respects his work as Inspector been placed by the Authority in due relations with the Medical Officer of Health. When nuisances have to be abated, statutory notices are served, and the cases are now well kept in view until the Council are satisfied as to their abatement. With an active officer and a willing Authority I anticipate considerable improvement in the cleanliness of the town. The inspector keeps a report book, but not a continuous record book. A site for an isolation liospital has, I learn, been obtained ; but no steps have yet been taken towards the erection of a hospital. There is no public mortuary provided by the Authority, such as could be used for the purposes of section 142 of the Public Health Act. Nor has any disinfecting apparatus been provided for the disinfection of infected clothing, &c. The Borough of Ryde. The borough of Ryde occupies the face of a hill which slopes mainly in a north- easterly direction, but a part of it in a north-westerly direction. The town of Ryde lies on the north-easterly slope, and is much exposed to the north-east winds. The slope is steep. The most elevated part of the town (near the Infirmary) stands at an elevation of 155 feet above ordnance datum. The lower part of the town stands at about the sea-level. The highest part of the whole district, however, is at its boundary, viz., 193 feet. The sub-soil at the lower and northerly parts is clay, with here and there gravel and sand, and a little stone. At the higher parts the sub-soil is brick-earth with gravel and some sand. At the extreme north-east, close to the shore, there is a part (formerly called the Duver) where some streets are built upon a shingly gravel, into which the tide used formerly to percolate readily. The Surveyor believes that this percolation has now been obviated in great measure by the sea-wall constructed of late years. There is a little marshy land to the east of this, between the town and St. Helen’s Local Board district, through which a brook, now improved by embankment, &c., runs. Pormerly on some occasions of high tides this marshy land used to be flooded, but this can scarcely happen now. There is another part, viz., at Pier Street, close to the shore, where the tide still percolates into the shingle on which this part of the town is built. In some places at the top of the town a running sand, full of water, is found at a depth of 6 or 8 feet from the surface. In other parts where clay predominates, the depth at which water is reached is very various. The town is regularly built, and with the exception of the High Street, the streets are, on the whole, of a good width and airy. There are a few courts, chiefly about the High Street, which are occupied by a poor population. The tide runs out a long way, leaving exposed a great breadth of wet sands, which are muddy, and sometimes offensive to the smell near the shore. The whole town is now completely, and so far as I can learn, well and efficiently sewered, and there are two outfalls into the sea by means of iron pipes carried out across the sands to a spot at which their mouths are covered, even at the lowest spring tides. One of these outfalls is at the eastern, and one at the western side of the town, not far from the pier, which is situated between them. The latter outfall is complained of as a source of nuisance to the yachts and shipping moored ofi* the pier, and to j)romenaders and others who use the pier, or work at the pier head. The complaint made is of the offensive smell of the water at low tides, in consequence of its admixture of sewage. No similar complaint is made of the eastern outfall. The reason of this lies in the peculiarity of the direction taken by the tide in the Solent at this place, instead of the tide running westward during the whole period of the flow, and east-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24996889_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
