Sanitary inquiry : - England. : Local reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of England, in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commissioners. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, July, 1842.
- Great Britain. Poor Law Commissioners.
- Date:
- 1842
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Sanitary inquiry : - England. : Local reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of England, in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commissioners. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, July, 1842. 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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![sumers' doors in a cart. There is certainly ample room for improve- ment here. But as a g-ood supply oF pure water is of essential im- portance to the public health, I should say that even Sunderland and Bishop Weannouth (with all their advantanes) are still miserably deficient; and if any legislative enactment could be obtained to give facilities for an abundant supply, it would be of incalculable benefit as a means of maintaining the health of large towns. No. 5.—Extract from a letter, dated January 5tli, 1841, from E. H. Greenhoio, Esq., a medical practitioner of Tynemouth:— The town of Shields is very well supplied with water, which in a great proportion of instances is found upon or near to the premises. Besides this, there is a water-company which provides an abundant supply for the lower orders by means of pants—public fountains— kept by disabled men or widows, who retail it out during six or eight hours daily at the rate of a farthing per skeel—a vessel containing about four or five gallons. I can afford no direct information in answer to ^our second ques- tion, as no marsh lands have been drained in this neighbourhood in my remembrance. I have, however, had occasion to remark that fever and other diseases prevail more in one or two small localities where there is standing water. One of these is a row of good houses, standing in an open airy situation and inhabited solely by persons of respectable station, which is built within a dozen yards or so from one of the water-company's reservoirs. This would indicate the import- ance of providing, in any legislative enactment of the kind you men- tion, for the removal from the close vicinity of populous districts of all bodies of water—even such as are generally considered innoxious. There is one point of considerable importance as respects the public health o/ towns, which is not alluded to in your letter, but upon which I venture, nevertheless, to trouble you. In towns of second or third-rate size and staudiner, like North and South Shields, there is generally a very inadequate supply of common sewers. Many of the best parts of North Shields are entirely destitute of these conveniences; and in others where they exist, from being placed too near the surface, and from other defects in their construction, a stranger is very much offended, on entering the houses of even respectable and wealthy persons, by the noxious smell arising from this cause. This state of things must be most injurious to the public health; and any legislative arrangements that would remedy the evil and provide for the formation of such conveniences at the building of each house, would not only be most serviceable in promoting public health but also be conferring a boon as regards public comfort. No. 6.—Extract fi-om letter, dated January ] 1th, 1841, from John Grey, Esq., receiver of Greenwich Hospital, &c. :— The provincial towns in the Vale of Tyne, i. e., Corbridge, Hex- ham, Haddon Bridge, &c., in common with all places surrounded by and in the immediate vicinity of high grounds, are plentifully supplied with pure and wholesome water; and the villages and farm offices possess generally the same advantage, as it is an easy matter in most cases to convey a spring or well to the places and diffuse it through the offices, so as to supply at once the dwellings of the people and the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21365167_0473.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
