perform, it may readily be supposed that sewerages and nuisances are
liable to be overlooked.
“I once called the surveyor before a Board of about twenty Trustees,
to draw attention to a pool of stagnant water lying in front of or
betwixt two rows of cottages about 60 feet apart from each other, and
about 150 feet long, covering nearly the whole of this vacant space of
around from one to two feet deep; dead dogs, kittens, and other
impurities in the height of summer were floating in it, yet I was
unable to obtain an order for the surveyor to expend a few pounds in
draining it off, or to compel the owner to do it, although situate in
the centre of a very populous district; and it continued in the same
state till built over by cottages the following year.”
The nuisances which favoured the introduction and spread of the cholera
were for the most part evils within the cognizance of the Leets, and
could not have existed had their powers been properly exercised, yet so
complete was the desuetude of the machinery of these Courts that it
appeared nowhere to be thought of as applicable, and the new and special
machinery of the Boards of Health were created for the purpose of
meeting the pestilence. There are no funds provided by which the common
remedy by indictment could now be prosecuted: and since the most
offensive and injurious nuisances are those supported by large capital,
redress for the private injury is practically available only to persons
who can afford to risk large sums in litigation. In one instance in
Scotland, where the stream which supplied a village was discoloured and
rendered disagreeable to the taste by some dye-works, a gentleman who
took up the defence of the villagers, who were mostly his tenants,
stated to me that the litigation incurred by an obstinate defence
involved an expenditure of no less a sum than 4,000_l._, the whole of
which he did not recover, and that from his own experience he was
clearly of opinion no one who had not most inflexible determination, as
well as ample means, would be warranted in entering upon such a contest.
Powerful influence was used to induce him to stay the suit, and he was
by persons of his own class regarded as the persecutor of the author of
the nuisance.
The complication of various nuisances in some of the larger
manufacturing districts has frequently become so great as to put them
beyond any existing legal remedy, whether private or public, by placing
out of the apparent possibility of distinct technical proof any injury
or particular effect arising from any one. An instance of this is stated
by Messrs. Paris and Fonblanque, where two indictments were preferred;
the one preferred against the proprietor of a Prussian-blue manufactory;
the other against a black-ash manufacturer; both of these works were
situated in Seward-street, Goswell-street, London. The counsel for the
defendant, in his cross-examination of the witnesses for the prosecution
of the Prussian-blue maker, drew from them an account of the noisome
vapours of the black-ash manufactury; while in the latter trial the same
barrister made the witnesses declare the extreme stench of the
Prussian-blue manufactory; so that in both cases the defendants obtained
a verdict, because in neither case could the witnesses for the Crown
unequivocally prove from which of the manufactories the nuisance
complained of arose.
_State of the Local Executive Authorities for the Erection and
Maintenance of Drains and other Works for the Protection of the Public
Health._
Having shown the state of the existing local authority for reclaiming
the execution of the law, for _causing_ that to be done “which the
common good requires,” and those things not to be done which tend “to
the annoyance of all the king’s subjects,” I proceed to describe the
general state of the executive authority, charged with the _doing_ of so
much of these things as is comprehended in town and road drainage; the
sewerage for house and street drainage, and the provisions for the
surface cleansing of streets.
The extent of the areas to be drained determines arbitrarily the extent
of the operations of drainage, whether public or private, which shall
combine efficiency and economy. If these areas are occupied by different
parties, they cannot be cleared separately at an expense proportioned to
the extent cleared. In general they are only to be won by agreement
amongst the parties holding the property, to place the operations under
the guidance of science; these labours will then be rewarded by
production, whilst disease and pestilence, as well as sterility, are the
effects of the ignorance and selfish rapacity which impede such union
for the common advantage. The early history of the attempts of the
separate owners of portions of the tract of country included in the
Bedford Level to drain their property separately, is a history of
expensive failures, of attempts to get rid of the surplus water only by
flooding the lands of neighbours, and scenes of wretched animosities.
These continued until the whole tract was put under one strong authority
and scientific guidance, when productiveness and health arose as
described in the account of the sanitary condition of the Isle of Ely.
Had the natural district formed by the geological basin of that level
been subdivided for drainage operations into districts co-extensive with
districts for municipal, ecclesiastical, or parochial and civil
administrative purposes; or had it been divided into districts according
to property or occupation; had the commissions charged with the drainage
of these subdivisions acted independently by ill-paid and ill-qualified
officers, without any competent control, instead of acting on one
comprehensive plan in subordination to an engineer of science adequate
to its design and execution, vast sums of money might have been spent,
and the land would still have remained a pestilential marsh occupied by
a miserable population.
The amount of surface-water on those lands made the expediency of
enlarged operations obvious, and their necessity pressing. Besides the
towns and tracts of country oppressed with surface-water, as described
in such evidence as that cited from the sanitary reports from populous
districts, the extent of country which is unhealthy as well as
comparatively unproductive, from the want of systematic under-drainage,
appears to be extensive and immense beyond any conception that could be
formed _à priori_, from the more conspicuous instances of enterprize,
intelligence, and science manifest amongst the population. What the
tract of country belonging to the Bedford Level, so subdivided and
inefficiently and expensively managed once was, large urban and rural
districts are now found to be in degree. The circumstances which govern
what is called the private drainage will illustrate the nature of the
administrative obstacles to efficient public drainage, and it is
necessary to consider them in connexion, for they are inseparably
connected by nature.
Although the larger share of the land-drainage redounds to the pecuniary
profit of private individuals, yet it is proved so far to affect, the
public health beneficially, and contribute to the productive employment
of the labouring classes, and to other general public advantages, that
such works fairly come within the description of _publicum in privato_,
and as such entitled to collective and legislative care. Drainage
appears to be the primary, and in many cases the principal, operation
for the efficient construction and economical maintenance of roads. But
an efficient system of sewerage, and general town and road-drainage, has
an additional value as removing serious impediments to the general land
drainage. The following portion of the evidence of _Mr. Roe_ affords an
exemplification of the extent to which the private land-drainage is
commonly affected by such operations:
“Have you found the sewerage produce any effect in the drainage of the
surrounding land?—Yes, we have found it lower the water in the wells,
often at great distances. For instance, in forming a sewer in the
City-road, we found that it lowered by four feet a well nearly a
quarter of a mile distance. The only remedy we could advise to the
parties was to lower the well: they did so. We afterwards had occasion
to lower the same sewer three feet, when the well was lowered again in
proportion; so that the construction of the sewer, in this instance,
drained an area of 40 or 50 acres on that side, and perhaps further.
The water is sometimes in such quantities, and so strong in the
land-springs, as to require openings to be left in the side of the
sewer for its passages.”
The first obstacles to the general land-drainage have already been
adverted to in the small occupancies. To these must be added the want of
capital. The legislature has recently given to the owners of life
estates the power of charging the inheritance with the contributions to
the cost of permanent improvements by drainage. This power does not meet
the case of the smaller holdings; and drainage operations to be
effectual must, in general, be on a scale too large to be within the
habits of thought or action of small owners or occupiers, of varying
interests, and wanting confidence in each other to combine, make, or
manage immediate outlays for such purposes. But above all these is to be
added the circumstance of the power which the possession of a small part
of a district gives to one individual, to thwart those operations of the
majority which are for the common advantage, and consequently the
temptation which the possession of such power gives and almost ensures,
of its use to exact unjust and exorbitant conditions. When expressing to
a gentleman who has actively promoted improvements in agricultural
production in Scotland, my surprise at the large extent of marshy
district allowed to continue in a state of comparative sterility,
sources of rheumatism, and fevers and other diseases, he directed my
attention to the following among other exemplifications:—
About a mile and a half distant, from one of the towns in Scotland,
there is a moss about seven miles long, with a small stream running
through it, with a fall of about 25 feet. At the outlet of this stream
there is an old corn-mill, which yields a rental of about 25_l._ per
annum. By the water being dammed up to turn this mill, the whole run is
impeded; and the consequent sluggishness of the stream occasions it to
be choked up with weeds. Whenever a fall of rain takes place, the banks
are overflowed, and not only is every improvement rendered
impracticable, but on several harvests as much as 500_l._ worth of hay
has been destroyed at a time when a heavy fall of rain has occurred and
occasioned an overflow.
It so happens that the proprietor of the mill would himself clearly gain
more than the value of the mill from the drainage that would be effected
on his own lands by the removal of the dam. The other proprietors,
however, offered to him for its removal the full rental that he now
derives from the mill. The property is in the hands of a factor, who is
ignorant and obstinate, and the offer was refused. Now the land which
would be affected beneficially by the removal of the dam, is a tract of
seven or eight miles long, with an average width of two miles and a
half. The expense of an Act of Parliament, if it were resisted, as it
most probably would be, renders an appeal to the legislature valueless.
Thus one individual is enabled to exercise a despotic caprice against
the health and prosperity of the surrounding population, to inflict an
extensive loss of labour and wages on the working man, the loss of
produce and profit to the occupiers, the loss of rent to the other
owners, and at the same time to inflict on all who may live on the spot,
or come within reach of the marsh, the ill health and hazards of disease
from the miasma which it emits!
The like despotic powers are found in every district in the way of the
public health, as well as of the private advantage.
The passenger who enters Birmingham from the London railway may
perceive, just before the terminus, a black sluggish stream, which is
the river Rea, made the receptacle of the sewers of the town. _Mr.
Hodgson_, and the committee of physicians of that town, state, in their
sanitary report, that—
“The stream is sluggish, and the quantity of water which it supplies
is not sufficient to dilute and wash away the refuse which it receives
in passing through the town, and that in hot weather it is
consequently very offensive, and in some situations in these seasons
is covered with a thick scum of decomposing matters; and this filthy
condition of the river near the railway station is a subject of
constant and merited animadversions, and that it requires especial
attention lest it should become a source of disease,” &c.
The fatally dangerous sluggishness of this river is occasioned by the
diversion and abstraction of its water to turn a mill, “a fact which
will amply account for the deficiency and sluggishness of the current in
the very places where the contrary condition is the most wanted.”
_Captain Vetch_, who has been engaged in engineering operations in that
part of the country which have led him to observe the spot, states that—
“The remedy is as easy as the evil is great; all obstruction being
removed from the course of the brook, and the water restored to its
original bed, the object would be effected; as to the value of the
mill-power which would thus be subverted, it cannot be a matter of
much amount, in a place where coals and steam-engines are so cheap,
and where the constant and regular work of the mill must be an object
of some importance.”
After describing the means of the removal, he states—
“In this manner, and by reserving the whole body of the water of the
Rea for cleansing its own bed, I have no doubt that this main sewer of
Birmingham would become as conspicuous for its wholesome and efficient
action as it now is for the contrary.”
Birmingham presents an example such as indeed is common in most towns,
of the stoppage of a main current of air by a private building carried
across one end of a main street. The effects likely to result from the
obstruction to the invisible current are not dissimilar to those which
result from the obstruction to the stream of water, and the cost and
difficulty of relief from them are perhaps much greater. _Captain Vetch_
refers, as another example of the condition of many of the towns in
respect to these chief streams, as described in the sanitary reports, to
the case of Haddington.
“In the town of Haddington a mill-dam crosses the river Tyne in its
passage through the place, and into the mill-pool the main sewer is
discharged with a diminished and sluggish descent; and on occasion of
floods in the river, the water passes up the sewers and occasionally
lays the lowest part of the town under water. It would not be
difficult to direct the main sewer into the bed of the river below the
dam or weir, and by the additional declivity give some current to the
water of the sewer, which, from the pending up of the river at its
present outlet, has rendered it almost stagnant, so much so, that in
hot weather, and where it is not covered over, the exhalations are
very offensive; but was the sewer improved by the alteration
mentioned, still the pooling up of the river for the mill keeps the
lower part of the town damp, and even subjects it to partial
inundations.
“One of the medical officers reports, that when ‘fever has been at any
time prevalent in the town, it has been most so in a portion of it
called the Nungate, lying close by the river, when during the summer
and autumn it is occasionally almost stagnant, and where there is a
considerable decomposition of vegetable matter.’
“Another medical gentleman, speaking of the main sewer, says, ‘this
small burn is a receptacle of the privies and refuse of vegetable
matters from the houses near which it passes; and in those parts where
it is uncovered, it forms an excellent index of the weather; previous
to rain the smell is intolerable.’
“The same gentleman proposes, as a remedy, that another small burn
having a parallel course at a short distance, should be turned into
the sewer to aid the sewerage. From my knowledge of the locality, the
recommendation, I should say, is judicious; but in this manner, though
the supply of water would be increased, the declivity or rather want
of declivity of the sewer would remain the same, and could only be
improved by removing the mill-dam, or directing the sewer into the bed
of the river below it, as already mentioned. Unquestionably from the
penning up of the river, the lower part of the town is at present very
ill drained, and it is somewhat remarkable that it was the first site
in Scotland visited by the Asiatic cholera.
“In reference to the two cases cited, and to others of a similar
nature, it should be remarked, that the vicinities of the nuisances
are chiefly inhabited by the poorer classes, and who, from want of
influence in their own parts, are the more necessarily thrown under
the protection of state regulations.”
It does not appear that any improvements have been suggested to the
inhabitants, or any question raised in respect to the compensation to
the owners of these obstructions. They are, however, enabled to refuse a
liberal compensation for removing from their property, and discontinuing
proceedings so injurious by the agency of invisible miasma, that if the
miseries were brought about by direct manual or visible operations, it
would be deemed the most horrible tyranny. In many, if not in most such
cases, the use of the property, with such attendant consequences, would
be found to be in contravention of the existing public rights; but the
expense and delay and uncertainty of the legal procedure practically
sustain such invasions on the surrounding property and on the public
health.
The powers of continuing such evils amidst large masses of the
population, and against specific representations of the attendant evils,
are terrible when the extent of those evils are examined. For example,
it is stated in the records of the proceedings before adverted to, with
which _Dr. Currie_, of Liverpool, was connected, that,—
“In the beginning of the year 1802, the corporation of Liverpool,
being about to apply to Parliament for powers to improve the streets
and the police of the town, requested the physicians of the infirmary
and dispensary to suggest to them ‘such alterations as might
contribute to the health and comfort of the inhabitants,’ in order
that, where necessary, they might include in the Bill about to be
brought into Parliament the powers requisite to carry such alterations
into effect. The physicians took this request into serious
consideration, and presented a report of considerable extent,
including a view of the causes of the uncommon sickliness of the two
preceding years, and of the measures requisite to prevent its
recurrence, and to remove the frequency of contagion in the
habitations of the poor. To lessen as much as possible the
contamination of the atmosphere, they recommended that lime should be
prevented from being burnt within a certain distance of inhabited
houses; that soaperies, tan-yards, and other offensive manufactories,
should in future be prevented from being established in the town; and
where now established, and authorized by usage, that they should,
whenever practicable, be purchased by the body corporate, and the
space they occupy be converted to other purposes. The same
recommendation they extended to slaughter-houses, and to all other
offensive trades or manufactories. They recommend, that in all cases
where fire-engines, or steam-engines, are necessarily employed in the
town or its vicinity, the burning of smoke should be enforced, as well
as in all other practicable cases where large volumes of smoke are
emitted.
“They pointed out the necessity of enforcing cleanliness in the
streets, to which end an improvement of the pavement was represented
to be essential; and they particularly advised a general review of the
common sewers, and an improvement of their structure, on the
principles of a report on this particular subject addressed by them to
the mayor and magistrates in 1788. They further advised that effectual
provision should be made for draining the grounds within the
liberties, and particularly to the north of the town. ‘Repeated
remonstrances (I quote the words of the report) have been made for the
last twenty years on the collections of standing water, including
filth of every kind, which are suffered to remain in the district
which extends along the termination of the streets from St.
Paul’s-square to Byrom-street, and to which the low fevers which, in
the autumnal months especially, infest these streets, are principally
to be imputed. These remonstrances have been passed over, on the
ground, as we are informed, that the proprietors of the lands will not
agree to the plan necessary for draining them.’”
Some of the most important improvements that might be accomplished in
the poorer and most infected districts of the larger towns by pulling
down the present tenements and erecting tenements of a superior order,
would, there is little doubt, amply repay any large capitalist or single
proprietor. In the course of our examination of the most wretched and
overcrowded wynds of Glasgow and Edinburgh, we were informed by persons
apparently of competent local information that, if they could be
purchased at a fair price for the public to be pulled down, there would
be a gain in the prevention of the charges of sickness and crime arising
from them; and that if they were simply rebuilt on a good plan, the
necessary outlay would be repaid by the improved rental from the
superior order of tenements. Each flat or story, however, frequently
belonged to a different owner, and the property in which the most
afflicted classes lived appeared to be extensively subdivided amongst
persons of different interests, of different degrees of permanency, and
with no power of co-operation, and with little or no capital.
Now the class of persons whose feelings, state of intelligence, and
modes of action are displayed in the evidence on the drainage redounding
to private profit, are the class from amongst whom are necessarily taken
the members of the local boards, to whose uncontrolled direction and
choice of officer the structural works essential to the public health
are confided.
The natural districts for public drainage are so capriciously subdivided
and departed from, as frequently to render economical and efficient
drainage impracticable.
The municipal authorities who obtained powers for drainage, only thought
of the surface drainage of their own jurisdictions. Some towns are at
the bottom of basins and others on elevations, and the operations for
effectual drainage must often be commenced at a distance. It is stated
by persons of competent skill in drainage, as an example, a town situate
on one side of a hill will be drained dry by tapping or opening a spring
on the other side. The manifest defect in the areas of operations for
drainage is noticed in the report of the Committee of the House of
Commons, which in the year 1834 inquired into the administration of the
sewers’ rate in the metropolis, where perhaps the most money has been
expended in imperfect sewerage and cleansing of any part of the kingdom.
They reported that a primary defect of their constitution—