Mr. John Spear's report to the Local Government Board on the prevalence of "fever" in the urban sanitary district of Maryport.

  • Spear, John.
Date:
[1882]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mr. John Spear's report to the Local Government Board on the prevalence of "fever" in the urban sanitary district of Maryport. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    often defective, as regards their original construction, their size, gradient, and condition of repair. The subsoil is consequently saturated with sewage, and little pools of sewage may often be seen collected along the course of the gutters, both in the streets and in the yards. The effluvium arising from this condition of things is distinctly perceptible in the streets of Maryport even in cold weather. It is said that men are specially employed in keeping these channels clear; but, notwithstanding this, their condition is as I have stated. The disposal of solid excrement is effected for the most part by what purports to be the pail system. It is probable that in the older parts of the town most of the houses were at one time unprovided with privy accommodation of any sort, and many are in that condition still. Others, and these the larger number, are now provided with pail- closets of a very primitive kind. The closet is often situated in an inconvenient, and to the scavengers inaccessible, position, and this I noticed not only in the case of old pro¬ perty but in regard to some houses of recent construction; it is, in the case of old property, (in the new there is improvement,) rough, and often flimsy in construction; the seat may thus be a mere wooden bar, and the receptacle an ordinary zinc pail. Not uncommonly, moreover, this privy is supplemented in tenement property by a large common ash-pit, which speedily becomes almost as foul as the old-fashioned middenstead. For the removal of the refuse, carts belonging to the Authority traverse the streets almost daily, and the people are expected to bring the pails to the streets to be emptied. But the Authority exercises no efficient supervision to secure this being done; and it is a duty liable to be neglected, not only by careless people but by others, on account of the inconvenience and disgust attendant on its performance. As a matter of fact these privies are generally throughout the town insufficiently attended to ; the recep¬ tacles were often found full, and still oftener to be in want of a thorough scouring. This latter process, since the Authority make no provision for it, and since the tenants when it is done by them have to discharge the foul washings, to their neighbours’ disgust, down the open street gutters, is scarcely ever performed. Defective as this form of pail-closet is, and insufficient as is its mode of scavenging, yet it is distinctly preferable to the old middenstead. This latter erection is to be seen in all its offensiveness in some of the courts of the town, as well as in the yards of some houses of recent construction. The scavenging of such receptacles is in the hands of a contractor. Water Supply.—Waterworks were established by the Sanitary Authority in 1868. The water is that of Bassenthwaite Lake, and is pumped from a mill-race, at a place Some eight miles distant from the town. It is filtered before distribution, and is said to be a pure water. I did not make a personal inspection of the source of supply ; but the waterworks manager reported to me his opinion that, although houses are situated near the stream above the intake, there appeared to be no opportunity of the water becoming polluted. Lodging Houses.—Only three houses are at present licensed as common lodging- houses, and these I found, in common with others that ought to be so licensed, over¬ crowded. The Maryport Improvement (Town and Harbour) Act of 1866 (amended by a more recent Act) contains a provision forbidding lodgers to occupy any room that does not afford to each inmate a space equal to 400 cubic feet. The framers of this enactment were probably not ignorant of the tendency of that class which forms so large a proportion of the population of Maryport to huddle together in insufficient space, nor of the insufficiency, as regards space and ventilation, of so many of the dwellings; and their local Act shows that they rightly appreciated one of the special dangers to which the town is exposed. Unfortunately, however, as may be inferred from what has preceded, no attempt was made to enforce this enlightened provision ; had it been judiciously applied, the town must have been in a position superior to that which it now occupies. The injurious tradition which regarded overcrowding even of the most indecent kind as of no account, would by this time have been broken down; building operations would have been stimulated by the demand for additional accom¬ modation ; and such a disease as typhus fever, it may be confidently affirmed, could scarcely have obtained a foothold. Byelaws.—Building byelaws were only obtained by the Authority in 1880. They follow closely the model byelaws issued by the Local Government Board for the guidance of Sanitary Authorities; and it is to be hoped they will be carefully enforced. Byelaws with respect to nuisances, with respect to common lodging-houses, and to houses let in lodgings, have also recently been obtained. Hospital Accommodation.—It has already been said that the Authority possesses no hospital for the isolation of infectious diseases, and abundant evidence was afforded by R 923. A 2