against a local authority for discharging sewage into a river. The County Court of the district in which the offence is committed is the tribunal before which the case is taken in the first instance.

In August 1877 (when the Act came into operation) the Local Government Board issued a circular to the sanitary authorities throughout the country, bringing to their notice in very clear terms the provisions of the Act, with the view to their being put into operation.

It cannot be said that this Act was in advance of public opinion, inasmuch as there was a universal agreement as to the necessity for legislation on the subject. Neither can it be said that the Act was too stringent. Indeed, criticism was rather in the direction of its being too lenient, but it would have been undesirable for any legislation to have erred on the side of excessive stringency, as this would have led to its being defied as unreasonable, or to its being disregarded as incapable of being enforced. Now this Act, mild as its provisions undoubtedly are, has been in operation long enough to enable an opinion to be pronounced as to whether or not it has accomplished, or is likely to accomplish, that which was anticipated. I am of opinion that it has not, and that practically it is a dead letter, and that, unless it is amended, it will remain inoperative. I do not go so far as to say that it has been a useless piece of legislation. It served for a time as a rod to be held over individuals and local authorities who were offenders, and to some small extent it caused inquiry and action where indifference had previously existed. The total effect, however, is inappreciable. The rivers continue, as before, to receive the pollutions which were sought to be abated. Not one certificate has been given to a town that the best practicable method has been employed to remove polluting sewage matter, although there are hundreds of towns offending against the Act which could be prevented from offending by adopting well recognised methods of dealing with their sewage were they stimulated to do so.

Although my own professional experience lies more in the direction of the operations of the Act in regard to sewage pollution, I believe it is a fact that the Act is inoperative in regard to pollution from mining and manufacturing refuse.

The exact amount of good which has resulted will shortly be ascertained when the returns which were moved for by the Duke of Northumberland last session are issued.

As the prevention of the pollution of our rivers was considered (and very properly so) sufficiently important in 1876 to secure special legislation, and as that legislation is not producing the anticipated results, it is most desirable to consider the causes of this failure, and of eliciting opinions with the view of arriving at what alterations are necessary to ensure the attainment of the objects contemplated.

One difficulty which existed at the time this Act was being shaped has disappeared, inasmuch as the methods of dealing with sewage are now well understood, and have ceased to be the bone of contention amongst interested patentees of chemical systems or of enthusiasts who looked to realising fortunes by irrigation. Therefore, in interpreting the expression, the best practical and available means,' I am confident that an impartial expert in sewage disposal would now be able to advise without any difficulty as to the proper and suitable system and works for each case.

The interpretation of this important expression might advantageously be explained in any future Act, so as to indicate the standard of purity which will be admissible, and to prevent its being considered that it is intended to require a uniform standard in all cases, which would be both undesirable and impracticable to enforce, as any attempt to compel the adoption of an equally high standard in all cases would lead to failure. It would be unreasonable to require the effluent from sewage disposal works which discharge into a tidal river, or into a river like the Thames, below the water companies' intakes to be as pure as should be required where the effluent passes into a small rivulet, or into a river above intakes of water works.

It appears to me that one serious defect in the Act which has contributed as much as anything else to its being inoperative is this :-The onus of initiating proceedings against offending persons or authorities is largely cast upon the individual riparian, or other, owner, which involves the assumption that such individual is able and willing to undertake the duty of enforcing the Act, or where the sanitary authority is relied on to enforce the Act, it presupposes that it will move in the matter, whereas in regard to sewage pollution, the authority itself is the offender. I may illustrate this by referring to a recent case, which is one of the few that have been tried under this Act, and as I was personally engaged in enforcing the Act against the local board, I am familiar with the facts. The sanitary authority of a town had, in a fitful way and for years, considered whether or no their town should be properly sewered, and the sewage properly disposed of instead of its continuing, as it did, to pollute the beautiful river which passed through the town by discharging sewage matter into it from several old ditches and drains. This state of things would have continued but for the action of a powerful riparian owner who had both the will and the means to fight this board, and who determined to put in motion this Act. He succeeded in these proceedings, and obtained a decision against the authority, which will result eventually in the pollution of the river being stopped.

This was not a very flagrant case, inasmuch as the whole sewage of the town was not passing into the stream. Yet it constitutes one of the very few cases where a riparian owner has moved in the

matter.

I think that the burthen of enforcing the Act should not lie with individuals or local authorities alone, as if the question were purely local. It is a public grievance which was sought to be removed by the Act, and requires to be treated in a broader manner than has been done. Individuals taking the initiative (as in the case I have referred to) are placed in a false and invidious position, as their action may prejudice them in the eyes of their neighbours, who may fail to appreciate the motives actuating them. I am quite satisfied that the machinery devised by the Act will continue to be incapable of overcoming its own vis inertia.

In my opinion an alteration of the Act is imperatively called for, and I suggest as a necessary change that the initiation of proceedings under the Act should be entrusted (in addition to the authorities and individuals) to public inspectors who should be entirely independent of local authorities, and who should be responsible to a Department of State. These officers should have power to enter premises to examine into cases of pollution, and to report to

CLASSES.

THE EVILS ATTACHING TO THE PRESENT

SYSTEM OF ERECTING MIDDLE-CLASS
HOUSES, AND THE REMEDIES WHICH IT
IS NECESSARY TO APPLY IN ORDER TO
SECURE THEIR REMOVAL.*

BY HENRY C. BURDETT, F.S.S.

Ireland, and America.†

THE dwellings of the poor are, alas, still very far from being what they should be. From an actual inspection of these dwellings in various parts of the country, I am compelled to declare with Mr. Fawcett that the first conditions of health, morality, and economy are alike impossible under the circumstances in which a large majority of the poor have to live. The house accommodation of the working classes in our large towns is often so bad as to make it impossible to overstate the evils arising from it; and I have often returned home, after a long day's inspection, possessed with a feeling of wonder that the poor, in the East End of London, for instance, do not rebel in a body, and insist upon being better housed or knowing the reason why. Yet the evil is increasing; for it is revealed in the figures of the last Census that more and more people are crowding into the towns, and less and less are remaining in the rural districts. Thus, whereas in 1861 for every 100 people who resided in the rural districts, there were 165 people living in towns, in 1871 this number had increased to 184, and in 1881 it had reached 199, so it is accurate to say that to-day there are two people living in urban for every one residing in rural districts. This ratio is rapidly increasing, and the evils arising must therefore tend to increase rather than to diminish. Nor is Scotland, or even Glasgow, in a better condition than England in this matter, but rather the reverse. Some will perhaps remember that Mr. John Bright, in his Rectorial Address at Glasgow, said that 41 out of every hundred families in this city live in a single room, and beyond these 41, 37 more out of every 100 live in two rooms. This statement does not convey all the fearful consequences of such a condition of affairs, nor can anyone realise it unless or until they have made themselves acquainted with the proportions and surroundings of such a room as that referred to by Mr. Bright. Many may well ask why, in the face of these appalling facts, do you not take the dwellings of the poor as the subject of your paper, rather than the dwellings of the middle classes? The answer is simple.

* Read at the Congress of the Sanitary Institute, Glasgow, September 1883.

† Sanitary Record, vol. v., pp. 273, 275, 305, 307, 321, and 323; vol. vi., p. 277; vol. viii., p. 385 to 389, &c. Pall Mall Gazette, Sept. 7 and 26, 1881. Lancet, Dec. 9 and 23, 1882.

Το

prove this, and to realise the crying nature of the evils attaching to the dwellings of the middle classes, it is necessary to pay a visit to a suburban district under the control of a local board, and to make an inspection of several houses in various stages of erection. These houses will be to let at from 35. to 50l. to 75%. a year, and possibly at a higher rate still. They will be occupied by bank clerks, commercial, Civil Service clerks, and others.

known as 'jerry' builders, are usually mortgaged as Such houses are erected by speculating builders, their construction except the surveyor to the Local the work proceeds, and have no one to look after Board. He, poor man, often without an apology for assistance, cannot be in every part of his scattered district at the same time, even if he wished to supervise all this class of work efficiently. Besides, it too frequently happens that the jerry builder is a member of the local board himself, or has powerful friends there; and in such cases the surveyor finds it inexpedient to interfere with certain houses, which are consequently the worst of their class. In the model buildings' by-laws, published under the authority of the Local Government Board, nearly every essential vided for, but in many districts, even where the byfor a healthy properly constructed dwelling is proowing to the unwillingness of the sanitary authority laws are in use, they are practically a dead letter, to enforce them with uniform energy. Yet the power taken in such by-laws, and which might be brought to bear upon the builders, would render jerry buildings an impossibility, if the local boards were determined to enforce such by-laws without fear or favour. Every local board, that is, the large majority, does not so enforce the by-laws, and is consequently in league with the jerry builder. tion amongst the working classes. Why do not the We are daily reminded of the power of combinalower middle class combine in self-defence and crush their present oppressors, the pot-house politician and his ally the jerry builder, who at present too often return and control the members of the

local boards, and whose rule is a grinding tyranny accompanied by preventable disease and suffering, not infrequently resulting in premature death?

For the purposes of this paper the writer visited a suburban district, Willesden, where middle-class houses are growing like mushrooms, where the local board have really a good surveyor and a building

inspector, and where houses have been and are being built by speculating builders. These houses offer many points of interest as being at variance with the by-laws now in force in the district.

The houses of these speculative builders are outwardly attractive and comfortable in appearance, and internally the rooms and arrangements are takingly planned. The reason is that directly they are roofed in, and often earlier, they are sold, but within two years they become a misery and a danger to the occupants. Why? Let us examine and inquire on the spot. The builder has several houses on hand in different stages of construction, so every portion of the work can be brought under observation. Here is a grass field, and on a clay soil a house is being commenced. The foundations are being put in; the turf has been removed from the surface of the ground, and a trench is being made, six inches deep and some eighteen inches, or the width of the footings of the house wall, wide. Into this trench they are putting concrete-i.e. jerry builders' concrete, made of siftings of dry earth and a little lime. On the top of this concrete the walls of the house will be built, and the joists or supports of the floor boards on the ground floor are consequently placed practically upon the clay soil, or within a few inches of it. If you come to this next house, which is further advanced, you will see that the damp course in the walls, to prevent the damp rising throughout the house, consists of tarred felt, a material which will be quite useless for its purpose in a few months' time. It is cheap, however, and keeps out the damp long enough to enable the builder to sell the house. Now look at the mortar of which the house is built. It is even worse than the concrete, being made of rubbish-i.e. of lime and burnt clay siftings, or in large part of clay pure and simple. By facing up and pointing the brickwork this jerry work is effectually hidden. After a brief interval, however, the appearance this outwardly beautiful piece of brickwork will present can be seen by looking at that house over there, where large cracks and bulging walls speak eloquently.

Here is a house, empty, which was completed and occupied two years ago. Notice how the inside is finished, to take the eye: good mantel-pieces, showy grates, and attractive papers. Now look at the floors. Not one of them is level; they are at all sorts of angles, owing to the sinking of the walls. You have to walk up and down hill, as it were, to cross each room in the house. Notice how the damp has risen, even to the second-floor rooms, and in all the water has come through the roof, not in one, but in many places. The bath-room and w.c. are conspicuous, but only to the practised eye, by reason of the scamped plumbing and forbidden fittings used. Look at the exterior. The footings of the chimneys are above the ground level, the garden walls are all bulging out, the piers cracking and coming to pieces; and, if left to themselves much longer, they will fall down. Observe how the roof sags, owing to the scantlings of the rafters being insufficient; and in case of fire, though a detached house, it is so close to the next, that the fire must spread because the usual protection against fires spreading from one house to the next is absent, no parapet being carried up on the external side walls. Built on clay, containing, practically, no cellars and no damp course, it is literally placed flat on the ground. Notice that the floor-level of the house is now below the level of the garden and on this fine summer's day the

dampness is shown many feet up the walls of the house.

As to sanitary arrangements these houses over there have a cesspool in their front garden within twenty feet of the front door, which overflows through the front garden wall and under the foot-path into the street gutter, as you will observe. Look at the soil-pipes! One lead one there has no less than six angles, and is tapped at the top by a half-inch pipe ventilator, and one is carried up the chimney and turned over at an acute angle into the chimney itself. In more than one instance the soil-pipes are leaking on to or down the sides of the houses. See again, this house has had to be under-pinned within two years of its erection and since it was purchased from the builder.

Finally observe that as you walk through the district many of the houses are worse than those we have been examining, that the rentals vary from 35. to 757. per annum, that new roads occupied for two years present the appearance of sloughs of despond, because the Local Board declines to take them over, but that nearly every house is occupied, and that many are sold before completion.

Now observe what the by-laws of the Willesden Local Board, with respect to new streets and buildings passed in 1881, provide. The whole ground surface or site of a house must be properly asphalted and covered with a layer of good cement concrete, rammed solid at least six inches thick. The building must be solidly put together (1) with good mortar, compounded of one part of good lime, and of three parts of clean sand or other suitable material, or (2) with good cement, or (3) with good cement mixed with clean sharp sand. Every wall shall have a proper damp course of sheet lead, asphalte or slates laid in cement, or other durable material impervious to moisture, beneath the level of the lowest timbers, and at a height of not less than six inches above the surface of the ground adjoining such wall. All footings shall rest upon some solid and sufficient substructure as a foundation, or not less than nine inches of good concrete. Every party wall shall be at least nine inches in thickness, and carried up for a height of at least fifteen inches above the roof, flat, or gutter of the highest adjoining building. Every soil-pipe shall be at least four inches in diameter, shall be outside the building, and be continued up without diminution of its diameter, and without any needless bend or angle being formed in such soil-pipe. Every cesspool shall be at least fifty feet from a dwelling-house, the brickwork shall be in cement, and shall be made watertight, with a backing of at least nine inches of well puddled clay around and beneath such brickwork.

Many other provisions might be quoted, but enough has been said to prove that in some cases, at any rate, if not throughout the district of Willesden, the builders set these regulations at defiance, and wholly and openly disregard them.

It must not be supposed, however, that in naming Willesden I do so because it is especially bad. Far from this being the case, I wish it to be understood that in some respects Willesden is far better managed than certain other localities. Indeed, I had intended to incorporate in this paper instances showing the condition of middle-class dwellings at Stamford Hill, Brixton, and elsewhere. There the jerry builder flourishes to an extent hardly credible; and if—as in an instance which came under my own notice--the individual occupant of the jerry-built house tries, of

his own strength, to obtain redress and a healthy dwelling, he is defied by the builder, aided ineffectually by the officers of the local authority, forced ultimately to attend the police-court on five separate days, owing to continual adjournments, left for weeks with an open foul-smelling drain in the middle of his kitchen floor, which causes general illness to the inmates of his house, and is finally forced by his despair to execute the necessary alterations at his own expense. Is not the condition of the occupant of a middle-class dwelling as much entitled to sympathy and succour as the class below him?

What, then, are the remedies? First and foremost, that householders shall combine and form themselves into a local association which shall defend them from the cruel wrongs they now have to endure. A very small subscription, probably 5s. a year, to such an organisation would suffice. The first step for such an association to take is to select and secure the election of suitable men on the Local Board; then its funds could be utilised to prosecute offending builders, and to secure the detection of any breach of the by-laws. In this way, and by the exercise of a little public spirit on the part of the classes interested in these matters, an effectual stop would soon be put to the existing evils, and the jerry builders' lot would cease to be a happy one. Under such a system the local sanitary authorities, which now so often neglect their duties (statutory and implied) would commence a course of action which would possibly warrant their possessing greater powers.

Extended legislation on one or two points would then be justifiable. No builder who was engaged in the erection of buildings within a district controlled by a local board should be eligible as a member of such board. By-laws would be enacted as to the height of rooms, as to hearths (the hearth, being part of a floor, cannot at present be dealt with by by-laws), and as to the materials used to plaster the interior of houses, which is at present frequently kept in its place by successive coats of papering. All these latter items, and others of more or less importance, might be dealt with if the 157th section of the Public Health Act of 1875 were amended by allowing sanitary authorities to make by-laws with respect to new buildings,' and leave the Local Government Board as the confirming body to determine whether any proposed building regulations were reasonable or not. In this way every part of a new building could be dealt with as far as by-laws can secure this end. The Local Government Board should possess full power of control because they are answerable to the House of Commons and to the country, and if they are not well advised in any technical matters they can get more competent professional officers.

Local governing bodies should be liable to some sort of punishment if they are shown to fail seriously in their duties. In support of this I may quote the district of Bangor, where last year the water supply was poisoned by specific disease, and caused a fearful epidemic (upwards of 550 cases and about fifty deaths), which, apart from the amount of personal misery and anxiety experienced by the relatives of those attacked, caused a money loss to the town which has been estimated at between 50,000l. and 60,000l. The splendid Penrhyn Arms Hotel there, was for many weeks, in the season, without a single visitor, and trade was almost at a standstill. Such a condition is surely one which

ought to bring about some such punishment as corresponds with disfranchisement in corrupt boroughs. Instead of this, it has been decided to elevate the Local Board of Bangor to be a Corporation.

As regards the Acts now regulating building matters, there are in London the Metropolitan Buildings Act, 1855, but this Act, apart from certain regulations as to duties, &c., of adjoining owners, &c., deals almost exclusively with securing stability and the prevention of fires, health matters being, as may be implied from the date, almost entirely lost sight of. A recent Amendment Act, 1879, enables the Metropolitan Board of Works to make by-laws as to, amongst others matters, foundations and materials for walls. But these are not all important matters, and when it is borne in mind that the Metropolitan Board of Works has no medical adviser, and that the by-laws it makes have to be confirmed, not by the Local Government Board but by the Home Secretary, who also has no medical department, is it surprising that sanitary matters do not form an important part of the Building Acts? In London the vestries, acting under the old Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855, have control over drains of houses, and this might be sufficient if it were effectually and uniformly applied through competent officers. But vestry surveyors are not ordinarily a very well-informed class of men, and as the Act merely says, everything is to be either sufficient' or 'to the satisfaction of the vestry,' and does not prescribe definitely what is to be required, it is of little real use.

In the provinces, except where there is a local building Act, i.e. where the authority is above being advised by the Local Government Board, and is rich enough to get special Parliamentary powers, they obtain by-laws under the 157th section of the Public Health Act, 1875. These may be made by any urban authority and, with the consent of the Local Government Board, by any rural sanitary authority also. In the latter case it is usual for the by-laws to be applied to certain parts of the rural sanitary district-parts which are not sufficiently populated to be formed into urban selfgoverned districts, but in which there is more than ordinary building going on or about to go on. It is, I think, matter for consideration whether the time has not already arrived for making most of the ordinary building regulations applicable by Act of Parliament to all new buildings wherever situated.

A house in the most rural district, miles away from any other house, ought to be built with strict regard for reasonable stability, for health, and for safety from fire. For an owner of a house, if he may burn his own property, ought not to be allowed to burn, or even to frighten his servants, his visitors, his assistants, or even his relations. Neither ought he to injure or kill them by an insecure or unwholesome building. The necessity for making efficient separation between houses to prevent the spread of fire was shown at Margate some time since.* A fire occurred in Cecil Square in that town, where the Assembly Rooms took fire, which spread to a number of adjoining houses. The whole of the south side of the square, including a ladies' school, was burnt out, and, although no one was killed, all were terribly frightened and inconvenienced, and

Oct. 28, 1882.

probably the business of several was more or less ruined.

At present urban authorities may, but are not obliged to, make building by-laws; and, if they make them, they need not enforce them. Rural authorities can get power to make building by-laws, but often do not trouble to do so. Hence, in lots of places, houses are being built under no local supervision whatever. Hastings and St. Leonard's may be mentioned as instances of this. The urban district is, I believe, only about half a mile deep from the sea, and three or four miles long. This area has building regulations, but outside the urban district, to the north, many new houses are, I believe, being built in the rural districts under no control at all, other than that of the owners and builders concerned. At any rate, I am informed that the Hastings Board of Guardians, as the rural sanitary authority, have no building by-laws.

Such is permissive legislation, and when we send our children and families to the seaside to take in a stock of health and strength for the winter, we are often compelled, unwittingly no doubt, but none the less certainly, to house them where the most important principles of sanitation are neglected.

Such are some of the remedies needed and recommended. In considering them and this question of the dwellings of the middle classes, we have necessarily been brought face to face with serious evils, which nearly affect ourselves. It is to be hoped, with the aid of the Press and the discussion which will, I hope, follow the reading of this paper, that an adequate and permanent remedy may be found and applied.

DEPOPULATION IN FRANCE.-Dr. Lagneau, in a paper read before the Académie des Sciences, shows how there are certain departments in France in which there is always a tendency more or less to a diminishing population. In 1841 there were 13 of these, in 1846 there were five, in 1856 there were 54, in 1872 there were 72, in 1876 the number diminished to 20, while in 1881 it rose again to 34. Twenty-six departments possessed in 1836 a population of 9,187,636, which in 1881 had decreased to 8,539, 384. Out of these 26, seven-viz., Eure, Lot-etGaronne, Calvados, Gers, Órne, Tarn-et-Garonne, and Basses-Alpes--owe most of their decrease to the excess of deaths over births, though this cause varies much in force, the annual excess of deaths in Eure being 313 in every 100,000 inhabitants; in Basses-Alpes the excess is only 18 in the 100,000. In the greater number of cases emigration appears to be the cause of decline. In HauteSaone, Ariège, and Cantal a fourth of the population has emigrated in the last 43 years, or, in other words, from 545 to 599 out of every 100,000. But, on the other hand, those departments have experienced an excess of births over deaths, so that the real loss by emigration has been reduced from 306 to 170 in the 100,000. In Eure and Calvados, which present a remarkable excess of deaths over births, emigration is only at the rate of from 17 to 37 in the 100,000. Dr. Lagneau attributes the feebleness of natality and the mortality in the departments of Normandy and the Garonne Basin greatly to the herding together in the cities and towns, and there is a strong contrast between the vital statistics of their inhabitants and those of emigrants to the colonies, where the conditions and results of natality are much more favourable.

THE death-rate of the borough of Gateshead for the four weeks ending Sept. 22 exhibited an average of 24.5 in the 1,000, showing an increase of 4 in the 1,000 to the corresponding number of last year, which some members of the Council attribute to the deficiencies of the ashpit system.

SOUTHPORT.

AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE DANGER WHICH THREATFNS THE EXISTENCE OF A HEALTH RESORT.*

By ARTHUR H. WRIGHT, M.D.

I HAVE been led to believe that some of the dangers which are very apt to threaten the well-being of a growing health resort, might be fitly considered on this occasion.

A health resort I define to myself as a place possessed of such natural hygienic advantages, that the workers in the hives of modern industrial life, and the sick and the invalid are drawn to it-the first to secure for themselves and their families healthy homes away from the great centres of industry; the others bearing the burden of hereditary disease, or overdone in the battle of life, come to it; to recover it may be health and vigour amid sanitary conditions best fitted to promote recovery from temporary illness, or to render life more endurable in circumstances of chronic ill-health. So thinking, I am justified in advancing the proposition that any sin against the laws of hygiene in a health resort inflict injury, not only on its inhabitants, but also injury, it may be deadly injury, on the numbers of those whose welfare depends upon the preservation for them, unimpaired of these conditions of healthy living, which have in health resorts been provided for their use. I think it is not a bad plan in considering any subject to select a special instance illustrating it, and, by dealing with the special instance, establish an example for imitation and avoidance. I shall, acting on this belief, take the town of Southport, in Lancashire, a health resort which, with its suburb of Birkdale, has, during the last fifty years, risen from a fishing village planted in the midst of Sand Drives to a town of 43,700 inhabitants. Southport and Birkdale are, however, two distinct places: Southport is a borough, Birkdale is under a local board. It is with Southport borough we have to do-a borough, I believe, with the high rateable value of 200,3827.; in the census, 1881, population of 32,191.

I shall, in the following, shortly describe the position which Southport, during her fifty years of life, has attained in this part of the county where she has grown, the reasons which have qualified her for taking that position, and the dangers which now threaten her prolonged prosperity. And I shall ask you to remember that what I describe as the dangers which threaten Southport are also dangers which threaten all towns of like pretension and like circumstances. Southport owes her rapid growth and favour with which, until recently, she has been regarded, to the possession of great natural advantages. Men of business from Liverpool, Manchester, and all surrounding Lancashire manufacturing towns, have, when their positions in the world have been secured, flocked to Southport, that they might in it establish houses where their hours of leisure might be passed, their families live, and their children be reared, amid the conditions necessary to a healthy

life.

Invalids have frequented the town in numbers because they find its remarkably equable and dry

* Paper read September 26, 1883, at the Congress of the Institute held at Glasgow.