Lectures on public health delivered in the lecture-hall of the Royal Dublin Society.

Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on public health delivered in the lecture-hall of the Royal Dublin Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    2^2 ' Lectvires oil Fithtic .Htalth. •chiefly amongst our town populations. As a general rule .the dwellings of the poor in great towns are a disgrace to our boasted', civilization. The frightful evils, physical and moral, which result from' the overcrowding of. large num- bers of people without regard to age, or se:^, in wretched, ]jestilentiar hovels are' beginning to make themselves felt. The authorities seem unable or unwilling to grapple with tliis difficulty, but I am glad to say that, thanks to the philan- thropic efforts of a few individuals, societies have been formed in various parts of the-United Kingdom, for improv- ing the dwellings of the poor. One of these societies, The Artisans', Labourers' and General Dwellings Company (London), has a capital of over £50,000, and pays its shareholders a dividend of £6 per cent. The directors state that in the houses erected by them, the average death-rate has been 6 per 1,000, while in neighbouring localities it exceeded 25 per 1,000. The Improved Industrial Dwellings Company (Lon- don), has invested half a million of money, and pays a guaranteed dividend of £5 per cent. It affords accommo- dation to about 9,000 persons. Some charitable persons in London have done much good by purchasing houses in poor neighbourhoods, putting them into substantial repair, and then letting them m lodgings, subject to stringent Sanitary regulations (which are en- forced). This seems a more sensible plan, than_ that of building large mansions at great expense, and fitting them up in a costly manner—in fact, making them unsuitable for the purpose ifor which they were intended. In Glasgow an enormous improvement has been effected by the Corporation, under the powers of a special Act of Parliament. Large districts have been purchased from time to time, uninhabitable houses have been demolished, and new ones erected on their sites, at ^ comparatively s,miiW. cost, provided by local taxation. We want something of this sort in Dublin, where there are over a thousand houses unfit for habitation, and which require demolition. ^ The powers conferred on the Corporation by the Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Act, to which I have referred at some length, Lui^ht be found sufficient for the purpose. If not, additioiia,] powers should be sought from Parliament.* If th(^ Corporation neglect their duty in this respect, that * Overcrnw.liiiK from want of space for building creates special diseases, and corapletelv .Icni .r ilizj.-= the people. If I were to pitch upon one thing which is the cau.se ..i ilie epidemic disease, and pliysical and moral degradation of the population. I slioul.l say it was the system of house construction such as we have had in Gla.^i;i'W for tliree or four generations.—Dr. Gairdnei: