Abstract of the proceedings of the public meeting held at Exeter Hall, Dec. 11, 1844.

  • Health of Towns Association (London, England)
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Abstract of the proceedings of the public meeting held at Exeter Hall, Dec. 11, 1844. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    was 30 years ; that place was open, elevated, and well drained ; in another division of the same ward, which was crowded, low, and indifferently drained, the mean age at death was only 17. Again, in Park ward, an open space, the mean age at death was 37 ; it was less than one-half in the bad district of that same ward. In Harewood-ward common, the mean age at death is 40 ; in Parliament-street court, without adequate ventilation or drainage, it is 20. Can any one hear these facts and remain at peace in his own comfortable well-aired and well-drained dwelling, without endeavouring to rescue from disease and prema¬ ture mortality the thousands of his fellow-countrymen whom the want of such advantages thus sacrifices ? There is another circumstance attending the dwellings of the poor in crowded cities, specially affecting the female sex, to which circumstance, in a mixed assembly like the present, he could hardly even allude ; yet it was of great importance, not merely to comfort and to delicacy, but even to health and life, since there was a specific disease arising, it is too much to be feared, from the present state of things, which an improved construction of the habitations of the poor, and the introduction of drainage and sewerage among them as contemplated by the pro¬ ceedings of this day, would, he trusted, at no distant day, remove. He did not venture to say more on the subject at this time; but there was evidence in the Report of the Commissioners which spoke so strongly on this point that he could not but call the attention of gentlemen to it by this passing allusion. He was satisfied that, to effect any real and extensive good, the measures adopted must be general and con¬ temporaneous—not restricted to particular localities and towns, but embracing the whole country, and carried out on one uniform system. There were not less than 50 local Acts regulating the sewerage and the supply of water in the metropolis alone ; and the cleansing, paving, and lighting, were all under separate and different Boards. Now, without destroying the existence of these Boards, he might say that no town could ever be placed in a sound sanatory condition until all these matters were under the influence of one general system, even if not under one superintending and responsible authority. It must be borne in mind, however, that in this country changes of this kind could not be made as rapidly as we might sometimes desire; they could be effected only by doing what it was one of the main objects of the present