Dr. Parsons's report to the Local Government Board on some outbreaks of fever and diphtheria in the Romford rural sanitary district, and on the sanitary condition of the district / [H. Franklin Parsons].

  • Parsons, H. Franklin (Henry Franklin), 1846-1913.
Date:
[1884]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Parsons's report to the Local Government Board on some outbreaks of fever and diphtheria in the Romford rural sanitary district, and on the sanitary condition of the district / [H. Franklin Parsons]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ii't BRARY iisral Collection* ! ! 7 / Q i t 0 L- ■ .-y f-xy »n wrirMB—nil Dr. Parsons’s Report to the Local Government Board on some outbreaks of Fever and Diphtheria in the Romford Rural Sanitary District, and on the Sanitary Condition of the District. George Buchanan, Medical Department, April 15, 1884. Several outbreaks of fever and diphtheria in the Romford Rural District having been reported to the Local Government Board during recent years, and complaints having from time to time been received respecting the sanitary condition of portions of the district, inspection was ordered by the Board, and was made in February 1884. The Romford Rural Sanitary District consists of those parts of the Romford Union which are not comprised in the Local Board districts of Romford and Barking; it has an area of 45,677 acres, and a population of 21,862. The urban districts include por¬ tions only of the respective parishes; that of Barking was only constituted in 1882. The Union is bounded on the south by the River Thames, which is bordered by a belt,, about a mile wide, of alluvial marshes, with scanty population. To the north of these marshes is an extensive plain of gravel resting on London clay; this is crossed by the high roads and railways from London to Colchester, and to Tilbury and Southend; and in the neighbourhood of these lines of communication the most populous and increasing places are situated. The northern part of the district is hilly, being part of what was formerly Hainault Forest: the soil is composed of the London and boulder clays, with a small outlier of pebbly Bagshot beds, on which the village of Havering-atte-Bower stands. The industries carried on in the rural district are agriculture, especially market gardening, brickmaking, and a few other manufactures. The population also contains, in addition to the local tradesmen and professional men, many business men who are occupied by day in London; this is especially the case in the neighbourhood of Ilford, where much building is being carried on. Some of the parishes in the Union are very extensive, and, forming long narrow belts extending from the river to the northern part of the district, comprise portions differing considerably in character and density of population. The Rural Sanitary Authority have from time to time carried out a few small works, but not any large or comprehensive scheme. They have, however, recently approved a plan prepared by Mr. Brundell, C.E., for the sewerage of Ilford, Chadwell Heath, and' Barkingside, which now awaits the sanction of the Local Government Board. At the present time there are, in some of the more compactly built places, old sewers —ditches which have been culverted, or drains put in for carrying off surface water from the roads—which are used for conveying sewage. In some instances, as at Butt’s Green, Hornchurch, at Dr. Barnardo’s Homes, Barkingside, and at South Park, Ilford, sewers have been constructed by private owners for particular groups of houses, with small filtering tanks to clarify the sewage before its admission into a stream. These filtering tanks, which have been constructed with the object of preventing the nuisances which had previously existed from the admission of the crude sewage into watercourses, were not found in any instance to be acting satisfactorily, owing apparently to want of continued attention and of renewal of filtering materials. Cesspools, commonly with an overflow into a neighbouring ditch, or from which the liquid soaks away into the gravelly subsoil, are the usual means of disposal of sewage in most parts of the district. They are a source of nuisance and danger to health in various ways. They are rarely provided with means of ventilation, so that the foul gases generated in them tend to be forced up the drains; this is the more dangerous in that the drain inlets are frequently indoors, and that the inefficient bell-trap is in general use in the district. The Sanitary Authority, however, endeavour to get sink pipes made to discharge in the open air, and earthenware gullies or syphons substituted for bell-traps. In some cases bad smells were complained of, which appeared to be due to the suction into the house of foul air from a sewage-soaked subsoil. The cess¬ pools are sometimes very close to the houses. There is danger also of the soakage contaminating the wells. Nuisances from sewage-polluted ditches and streams are A. 11642. 150.—5/84. Wt. 24779. E. & S. A