Mr. Spear's report to the Local Government Board upon the fatality from "croup", and other throat affections, in the Horwich regestration sub-district / [John Spear].

  • Spear, John.
Date:
[1889]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mr. Spear's report to the Local Government Board upon the fatality from "croup", and other throat affections, in the Horwich regestration sub-district / [John Spear]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    with a fireplace, and is often (contrary to the provisions of the byelaws in such cases) without special means of ventilation also. In the construction of houses the byelaw (No. 10) requiring* the site to be covered with a layer of concrete, has been universally neglected, and this although the soil is so wet that, as I saw myself, the small necessary excavations for laying the foundations are often flooded with surface water. Even the very simple and ordinary precaution of providing damp-proof courses in house walls (required by another byelaw) is often neglected, or is so imperfectly observed as to render the work valueless; and the result is that in a number of houses evidence is already seen of dampness from the foundations. Many of the yards of these new buildings are unpaved, and some of them slope upwards from the site of the building. Wash-houses are only occasionally provided, so that the tenants have to use their small in-door kitchens for this pur¬ pose ; the closet accommodation, placed in yards of the minimum proportions prescribed by the byelaws, is such as I have described. In much of the older cottage property dampness is likewise a common feature ; and both* dilapidation and want of proper room ventilation are occa¬ sionally met with. One dwelling I saw at Higher Barn, where these defects existed, had, I was told, been reported as unfit for habitation by the Medical Officer of Health, but was still occupied. In this house the following deaths had occurred: One from bronchitis, two from scarlatina, one from some wasting infantile disease, and one from “croup” in the 14 months between May 1887 and July 1888. At the time of my visit one of the surviv¬ ing children was just recovering from an attack of rheumatic fever, a disease which, as is well known, is extremely apt to leave a child permanently dis¬ abled. The taking of lodgers in these cottage houses is a very common practice, and accordingly a condition verging on overcrowding in them is frequent. Overcrowding of a gross sort is said to bo less common now than on the first influx of population. No attempt has been made to register “ houses let in lodgings.” The common lodging-houses, of which there are reported to be only three in this district, require to be registered and properly regulated. One that I visited was overcrowded; the room ventilation was defective, and the closet accommodation insufficient. The ivater supply of the town is now derived from two general sources, while the outlying localities are dependent upon local wells and springs. Of the town sources of supply, one is from the reservoirs of the Blackrod Sanitary Authority, and is the surface water of elevated moorland; and the second, obtained at the time of scarcity of the other in 1887, is from adits driven by the side of old colliery workings situated likewise in the high moorland district above the town. Both waters afford satisfactory results on analysis, although that from the last-named source is harder than the other. The two supplies are delivered on different days to all parts of the town, and on the constant service system. 1 was only able to make a partial inspection of these sources of supply, and as regards the Blackrod water, without the assistance of the managing official. So far as it went my inspection revealed no immediate danger of pollution in either case; although, as regards the surface water, the area of collection evidently requires to be jealously guarded from possible contamination by cattle, and perhaps from matters that might be washed by heavy rains from the precincts of two or three dwellings. Certain of the outlying localities are insufficiently provided with water. At Higher Barn, an outlying hamlet, the inhabitants have to go nearly half a mile for a wholesome supply. The dairies, cowsheds, and milkshops are reported to be registered, but require proper regulation. One I visited had direct communication both with living and sleeping rooms ; direct drain communication existed within it, and the water supply was insufficient. The slaughter-houses, of which there are reported to be five in the town, are unsatisfactory. One I found with direct (inclosed) communication with a dwelling. Another, with boarded floor, ill-lighted and ill-ventilated, was beneath a corn warehouse; and a third, small, ill-ventilated, and with