Dr. Page's report to the Local Government Board on diphtheria prevalence in Berwick-upon-Tweed urban sanitary district / [David Page].

  • Page, David, M.D.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Page's report to the Local Government Board on diphtheria prevalence in Berwick-upon-Tweed urban sanitary district / [David Page]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Water Bupply. Dwelling- houses. Lodging- houses. Slaughter¬ houses. in the smaller houses and tenemented property are out of doors. In the better houses, the soil-pipes of the in-door closets are imperfectly or not at all ventilated, save in those houses which have been built in quite. recent years, where the soil-pipe has been carried up above the eaves in its full diameter. Attention has been given to the provision of separate flushing cisterns for the closets in every instance. In Tweedmouth and Spital midden privies are the rule, but during the present year the Sanitary Authority has adopted the pail or ash-closet system in the case of all new houses or alterations of old property. I am told there are somewhere about 40 such closets in Tweedmouth and 50 in Spital. The Authority undertakes the systematic scavenging of the whole district. There is a daily collection of ashes and house refuse, and privies as well as pails are emptied once a week. Large accumulation of excremental filth is thus prevented, and the sole obtrusive nuisance in connexion with excrement disposal arises from the insufficient closet accommodation not infrequently met with in tenemented property. One glaring instance of the kind noted in my survey report, two years ago, was in Garnick’s Row, Tweedmouth, where one privy served for 16 families. This state of things I found still continuing and con¬ tributing, with the other unwholesome conditions already mentioned, to the foulness of this yard in which fatal outbreaks of diphtheria had occurred. Berwick, north of the river, is supplied from waterworks belonging to the Sanitary Authority. The supply is derived, partly by pumping from springs issuing from the sandstone rock at Tweedmouth, partly from a spring above the town/known as “ Nine Well Eyes,” and is distributed on constant service. It is stated to be of good quality and moderate hardness. The lower part of Tweedmouth is supplied from works belonging to a private company; the upper part having, from inadequacy of this supply, to depend upon three public wells which for many houses are of inconvenient access. Spital is similarly dependent upon a private and separate water service. In neither case are the owners of these respective waterworks empowered by Act of Parliament, or otherwise, to supply those places, and owing to the inadequacy of their supplies, the Sanitary Authority have had under consideration, during the present year, the question of introducing a proper public service, and correspondence with the Board upon the subject has recently taken place. As one might expect to find, Berwick presents in a marked degree the characteristic features of an old fortified town, in which, for centuries, build¬ ing has been confined within the walls. Inside the “ Ramparts’' still girding the town, numerous courts and yards branch off from the wider thorough¬ fares, intersecting more or less depth of property at the rear. This is notably to be seen in Mary Gate, the main street of the borough, extending from the Town Hall to the Scotch Gate, and in Walkergate, which joins it about this point. Many of these yards are badly paved with cobbled stones, and have uneven gutters favouring nuisance from lodgment of dirty water, or imperfect scavenging. Examples of this sort were met with also in Hatter Lane off Walkergate, and in Chapel Street. These conditions contrast unfavourably with the well-scavenged roadways and improvements of the streets carried out by the Authority in some of these last-named localities since my previous visit. In the yards situated in the same localities tenemented property is the rule, leading to inevitable overcrowding where, as I frequently enough encountered,* a whole family is living in every room. There is less density of building on the other side of the river, in Tweed¬ mouth or Spital, but the amount of sub-let tenements, especially in the former, appears to be quite as prevalent. Dampness of foundations and walls, arising largely from want of eave- spouting, was met with both in Tweedmouth and Spital; and in Tweedmouth this condition appeared to be aggravated in some instances by the natural wetness of the soil and absence of drainage. The common lodging-houses, eight in number, are duly inspected and registered. They are, on the whole, cleanly and orderly kept, and a cubic allowance of 300 feet per head is required by the sanitary officers. Some 16 slaughter-houses are under license and inspection. Many compare favourably with the corporation shambles, which at the time of my visit were in a very filthy condition.