Dr. W.W.E. Fletcher's report to the Local Government Board upon the sanitary circumstances and administration of the Borough of Brackley and of the Brackley Rural District.

  • Fletcher, Wilfred William Ernest.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dr. W.W.E. Fletcher's report to the Local Government Board upon the sanitary circumstances and administration of the Borough of Brackley and of the Brackley Rural District. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    collection and disposal of ashes and house refuse in the town portion of the borough. But, on the other hand, the Council has failed to provide an efficient disinfecting apparatus and hospital accom- modation for persons suffering from infectious disease ; dwelling- houses have fallen into, and have been allowed to remain in, dilapidated and insanitary conditions ; and the repeated complaints of the medical officer of health with respect to such dwellings have been ignored. The Council also appears to be very lax in dealing with nuisances arising from the keeping of pigs and fowls in filthy conditions. BRACKLEY RURAL DISTRICT. Population.—Census 1891, 7,779 persons. „ „ 1901, 7,182 „ „ estimated at the middle of 1909, 7,200 persons. Area, 42,440 acres. Annual Rateable Value at Michaelmas, 1908, £60,488. Annual Assessable Value at Michaelmas, 1908, £45,354. 'Outstanding Debt for Sanitary Purposes, £181. Rates.—The total rates for the year ended March 31st, 1909, for all purposes amount to 2s. 10^<7. in the £, made up thus :—High- way, lOd. ; Poor’s Pate, Is. life?. ; Sanitary Purposes, \d. ; and for the year ending March 31st, 1910, to 3s. 1 £d. in the £, made up thus :—Highway, Is. 0\d. ; Poor’s Pate, 2s. Ofd. ; Sanitary Pur- poses, ^d. The rate averaged somewhat less than 1 d. in the £; last year and this year, \d. in the £ was deemed sufficient. Principal Industries.—The district is entirely rural, and agricul- ture and dairy-farming are practically the only industries. Large quantities of milk are sent out of the district, mainly to London. The Oxford Canal, which connects the Midlands with the Thames, skirts the western border of the district. Sanitary Circumstances. Water Supplies.—The inhabitants of the rural district are mainly dependent upon public, or private, surface wells for their water- supplies ; but in some half-dozen villages, e.g., Charlton-by- Newbottle, Morton Pinkney, Eydon, Helmdon and King’s Sutton, the well supplies are supplemented by water piped from springs to standpipes. These wrells are invariably dry-steined, and admit soakage from surface and subsoil water. The water-level varies according to the sites of the wells, being in some instances close to the surface, and in others 15 feet, or 20 feet, or more, below the ground level. Many of the wells are situated in such positions that they incur risk of water-pollution from deposits of manure or manured ground, from privies, or piggeries, or defective drains. Of the piped water-supplies only one, that for Charton-by- Newbottle, was provided by means of a loan sanctioned by the Board, of which loan the sum of £181 is still outstanding,^ and forms the District Council’s only debt for sanitary purposes. * Locally I was informed that the original loan amounted to £300, but from the Board’s records it appears that the sum was £253.