Dr. H.F. Parsons's report to the Local Government Board on the recent prevalence of scarlet fever and diphtheria in the Thorne registration district, and on the general sanitary condition of the sanitary districts comprised therein / [H. Franklin Parsons].

  • Parsons, H. Franklin (Henry Franklin), 1846-1913.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. H.F. Parsons's report to the Local Government Board on the recent prevalence of scarlet fever and diphtheria in the Thorne registration district, and on the general sanitary condition of the sanitary districts comprised therein / [H. Franklin Parsons]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Pig-keeping nuisances are very rife through the district, and the byelaw prohibiting the keeping of swine within 60 feet of a dwelling-house would be of much benefit, but its usefulness seems likely to be impaired by a limitation to houses “ not being in the same curtilage.” If, as the clerk considers, a yard common to a number of houses be one curtilage, then the keeping of pigs in such a yard, however small and con¬ fined_and several such cases were seen in Thorne—would still be permissible under the byelaws. The clerk informed me that an application had been made for urban powers under § 157 of the Public Health Act, 1875, but had not been granted. This appears to have been a misapprehension on his part, as the office papers contain no record of such an application having been made or refused. There are not many new buildings erected in the district, but instances came under my observation, which showed that the possession of byelaws similar to No. IV. of the model series would be beneficial. Thus, at some new houses in Sluice Lane, Thorne, the privy was only 12 feet from the well—a shallow one in sandy soil—the water already being turbid, and of a deep yellow colour. Again, in some instances, new drains which had been put in under notice from the authority, were constructed only of common agricultural pipes, with large untrapped brick catchpits of the kind locally termed “ cesspools,” for inlets, and the authority were advised that they had at present no power to specify any particular materials or mode of construction for drains, but could only wait until a nuisance arose or recurred. But few structural works have been carried out by the rural sanitary authority. A new well has been sunk at Epworth, and a ditch covered in at Hatfield. Some action appears to be taken for the abatement of nuisances, but mostly only for the temporary removal of accumulations which are likely to recur. Comparatively few places were seen where structural alterations for the abatement of nuisances had been made, and in those seen the work had not always been satisfactorily carried out. y No action appears to have been taken under the Public Health (Water) Act. The following is a description of the sanitary condition of the principal places in the district :— Epworth is a small and straggling market town of 2,178 inhabitants. The market place, &c. are situated on a low hill of red marl, and a long street stretches for about two miles westward into the flat country. The houses are many of them old and without through ventilation; they belong to a number of small owners. Some are much out of repair, with consequent dampness, and others were found over¬ crowded. There are few sewers in Epworth; in the upper part of the town the slop-water is carried away by the roadside gutters, which are paved; in the lower part it goes into open ditches, some of which are by the roadside or close to houses, and when full of stagnant sewage are a source of much nuisance. The drain inlets, which are almost always external to the houses, are mostly of the kind to which the term “ cesspool55 is locally applied, that is to say, large catchpits, sometimes two feet square, and of equal depth, built of rough brickwork, and either untrapped, or with an iron trap fixed in the covering flag. In the latter case the trap or flag has to be taken up whenever the sediment requires to be taken out, and is thenceforward allowed to remain loose. In such a catchpit a considerable quantity of sediment is able to accumulate, (for which purpose indeed it is intended), which in hot weather, or before rain, or when stirred up, exhales offensive effluvia. The privies have usually middensteads of porous brickwork, which are often open to the rain, besides being too large and deep. In several cases, privies and pigstyes were seen abutting against the walls of houses. Of some, the contents, when emptied, have to be carried through the house. There are many wells in Epworth, but the water obtained from the gypseous red marl, on which the upper part of the town stands, is very hard ; and that of many of the wells is contaminated by soakage from privies, farmyards, stagnant ditches, and other foul accumulations in their neighbourhood. There are two public wells, both in the upper part of the town; one having been recently sunk by the rural sanitary authority for the purpose of obtaining water for flushing the sewers. Bain-water collected in underground brick cisterns, or, in the absence of such an appliance, in tubs, is preferred for drinking and most domestic purposes. Some houses are without any water supply at all; the occupiers having to purchase water at the rate of Id. for two or three pailfuls. A slaughter-house, visited in the course of the inspection, had a dilapidated floor,, upon which stood pools of liquid manure draining from an adjoining shed in which pigs were kept.