Dr. E.P. Manby's report to the Local Government Board upon the sanitary circumstances and administration of the Urban District of Ince-in-Makerfield.

  • Manby, E. P.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr. E.P. Manby's report to the Local Government Board upon the sanitary circumstances and administration of the Urban District of Ince-in-Makerfield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Dr. E. P. Manby’s Report to the Local Govern- ment Board upon the Sanitary Circum- stances and Administration of the Urban District of Ince-in-Makerfleld. Theodore Thomson, Assistant Medical Officer, 2nd April, 1912. The Board received an application from the Urban District Council of Ince-in-Makerfield, on April 22nd, 1911, for sanction to an increase in the salary of the council’s inspector of nuisances from £130 to £150 per annum, and on May 19th they were asked to sanction the appointment permanently. Correspondence ensued, and it became clear .that, although the population of Ince was more than 22,000, the inspector of nuisances received no assistance in the execution of his duties beyond that afforded by one of the council’s workmen in regard to the disinfection of premises. In October, 1910, the Board had addressed a communication to the urban district council in reference to the unduly high rate of mortality amongst infants which had prevailed in Ince for many years. Furthermore, the district had been the subject of unfavourable reports by Dr. Franklin Parsons in 1879 and 1886, and there was reason to believe that the amount of improvement in a sanitary sense which had taken place since those reports were made was not large. Accordingly it was thought well that the district should be re-inspected by one of the Board’s medical inspectors. This duty was allotted to me, and I visited Ince on October 31st, 1911, and on subsequent dates. The urban district of Ince-in-Makerfield has an area of 2,320 acres. Its population at the census of 1911 was 22,038. The population in 1901 was 21,262, and in 1891 19,255. The local estimate of the number of houses within the district is 4,555, but in the recently issued preliminary report of the 1911 census the number of ^‘families or separate occupiers” is given as 4,365. The rateable value of the district is £96,612; the assessable value is £73,110; the total indebtedness is £64,401; and the debt under the Public Health Acts is £11,372. A penny rate produces £305. The total rates for 1911 were 5s. 6d. in £1, with an additional charge of 1.?. in £1 as a water rent. Ince-in-Makerfield stands upon the coal measures, and the male population is employed almost entirely in coal mining and 'iron working. The district is very liable to subsidence of the ground in consequence of tbe mining operations, and, accordingly, (22615—21.) Wt. 31562—654. .500. 4/12. D & S. No. 65. j