Dr. R.W. Johnstone's report to the Local Government Board on the sanitary circumstances and administration of the Rural District of Easington.

  • Johnstone, R. W.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr. R.W. Johnstone's report to the Local Government Board on the sanitary circumstances and administration of the Rural District of Easington. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/22 (page 16)
    under the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, with 802 houses in the rural district of Easington, with the result that 348 were closed, 225 were made properly habitable, and 178 were improved, while 51 were still being dealt with at the time of my visit. The following table was compiled for me by the medical officer of health, and it records the action taken by the rural district council and the progress made in housing accommodation during the period 1902 to 1908. Table V. Showing the number of new houses built, the number of old houses improced, the number of old houses demolished, the number of houses closed by magistrate’s order, and the number of privy middens converted into ash closets for each township in the rural district during the period 1902 to 1908 (inclusive) :— Township. New houses built. Old houses improved. Old houses demolished. Houses closed i>y M agistrates’ order. Privy middens converted into ash closets. Easington 7 3 1 Haswell 94 11 — — 23 Shotton 1,364 283 — 159 368 Castle Eden ... 83 4 10 — 16 Hawthorn 3 — •1 — — Dalton-le-Dale 35 — — — — Burdon 2 . — — — — Murton 201 11 — — 46 Thornley 92 29 54 11 45 Wingate 396 50 12 — 173 Hutton Henry 33 18 — — 14 Seaham 170 64 — — 448 Seaton 34 — — — 13 Monk Hesledon — — — — — Cold Hesledon — — — — — Kelloe — — — — — Nesbitt — — — — — Sheraton-with-Hulam — — — — — Total ... 2,514 473 77 171 1,146 In addition to the above, 552 statutory notices under the Housing of the Working Classes Act were issued, and were followed by repair, or voluntary closure, or are still under consideration. In spite, however, of the work accomplished by the county council and the district cdhncil, the amount of house property showing grave sanitary defects remains very large. It will be necessary for the Council to maintain pressure upon the owners of old and unsanitary property, and care will have to be taken that reconstruction and improvements are carried out in such a way as to obviate at least the graver defects which have been alluded to in this report. I am indebted to Mr. Longden, the clei’k to the rural district council, for facts and figures courteously supplied me; to Dr. Arthur, medical officer of health, for his guidance in inspecting