The growth of cities in relation to town planning / by A.K. Chalmers.

  • Chalmers, A. K. (Archibald Kerr), 1856-1942.
Date:
[1908]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The growth of cities in relation to town planning / by A.K. Chalmers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    t,lie uncontrolled ag,i>-i-i\o'atioiis of ])opu1atioi1 udfudi tluiH resulted, and it only ]-equlred the disclosures of tlie first Poor Law CViiinuissiou to pave the way for all iiicpiiry into the liealth of towns. Here was Inaiigul-ated the liegiiining of the inoveinent for improving the Sanitation of towns, and in the wealth of legislatioil which followed,there grew Tip a complex, if ilot com fused, system of Local Administration tvhich, in 1869, led to the Ro}^al Sanitary Commission and a re-arrangement of the central aiid local authorities; Through all this legislation there i‘an a chord of sylnpathy with the toiling masses of the great towms, which is easily distinguishable in the writings of the periodj and of which the dominant note is the burden which neglect of sanitaiy provisions entails. ft was seen to lie at olice a cause and a Consequence of poverty. ft told on the efficiency of the worker. If he escaped untimely death from infections disease he was still exposed to tlie risk of more or less permaiietit invalidism from disease Avhich was also to some extent ]Tre\'entable, although not in any sense infectious. It may here be suggested tliat housing’ reform implies much more than improved sanitation of the hoine and its surroundiligs, and I agree; but there is soinetinies displayed by many who are genuinely interested ifi the question what seems to me a regrettable tendency to (hvell on these other factors to due