lodging-house keeper is a profitable one: instances are given from
various parts of the country where the keepers of such houses have
accumulated property; and whilst the keepers of public-houses, however
small, or of beer-shops, are subjected to the necessity of taking out
licences, there is no apparent reason for the exemption of lodging-house
keepers from that charge by reason of poverty; neither should I consider
that it would be a disadvantage, but the contrary, if the proper
regulation of such houses were effected at some increase of the price of
the lodgings. On examination of the description of persons accommodated
in such houses, (whilst there is a public provision for those who are
really in a state of destitution, and means are provided for removing
them to their places of settlement when it is necessary,) I find no
class whose migration is entitled to any encouragement by any diminution
of the charge of providing proper lodgings. Another topic of
consideration in connexion with houses of this class, is the tendency of
the degraded accommodation to degrade the classes of the population who
have recourse to it. I would therefore submit for consideration, whether
all common lodging-houses should not be required by law to take out
licences in the same manner as public-houses; and that, as the condition
of holding such licences, they be subjected to inspection by the medical
officers of the union (or the district medical officer), and bound to
conform to such sanitary regulations in respect to cleanliness,
ventilation, and numbers proportioned to the space, as he may be
authorized to prescribe for the protection of the health of the inmates:
and also that all such lodging-houses shall be subjected to the
regulations of the magistrates, and shall be open to the visits and
inspection of the police, for the enforcement of duly authorized
regulations, without any search-warrant or other authority than that
necessary for their entrance into any house belonging to a licensed
victualler.
It may further be submitted for consideration that, by the beneficial
progress made in the habits of temperance in some districts, the disuse
of spirituous or fermented liquors may enable the proprietors of houses
of a higher order of resort than those in question to convert them into
coffee-houses or victualling-houses, and at the same time dispense with
the expense of the licence, and avoid also the responsibilities for the
protection of the public which the law has attached to licensed houses
of resort for travellers.
From the reports received from the more populous towns, it would appear
that there are few houses which are let for the accommodation of large
numbers of regular lodgers which might not be benefited by the
inspection of a medical officer. I believe it would be more beneficial
to the public to extend than to narrow the definition of the places
which should be subjected to regulations as lodging-houses; and that a
discretion as to the description of house which shall be included might
be safely confided to the magistrates who have local charge of the
public peace and the public economy of the towns.
The report received from _Mr. Charles R. Baird_, on the state of the law
applicable to the sanitary regulation of Glasgow, and the condition of
the labouring classes, as affected by the incompleteness or absence of
such regulations, affords evidence of the practical effect of measures
such as those recommended. Powers for the execution of such measures
have been already obtained and put into operation by the magistrates and
authorities of that city.
“The lodging-houses,” said Dr. Cowan, “are the media through which the
newly-arrived immigrants find their way to the fever hospital; and it
is remarkable how many of the inmates of that hospital, coming from
lodging-houses, have not been six months in the city.” He might have
added, these lodging-houses are the great _foci_ of poverty, vice, and
crime, as well as of disease. These houses are generally of a very
wretched description, in low, unwholesome situations, exceedingly
dirty and ill-ventilated, and are frequently crowded to excess, it
being no uncommon thing to find 8, 10, and 12 persons in one small
apartment, as 9 feet by 8, or 11 by 8. Some of them also have no beds
whatever in them, the inmates lying on the bare floor, or with a few
shavings below them, with their clothes on. A more particular
description of them will be got in Captain Miller’s Papers on Crime in
the City Proper, Mr. Rutherglen’s (one of the magistrates) on Calton,
and Mr. Richardson on the Barony of Gorbals. It would appear from
these published documents, and from what I have been able to learn
otherwise, that the lodging-houses in the City Proper are decidedly of
the worst description; but I am aware that the authorities are
adopting means to have them in better order in future. In the burgh of
Anderston they have for some time been under the surveillance of the
police; and a record is kept of all lodging-houses for the
accommodation of casual visitors in Gorbals (by which it appears that
there were lately 92—50 kept by males, and 42 by females; only 25 of
them entertain the lowest class of poor), so that they may be properly
regulated. It is only in Calton, however, that they are attended to
with that strict care which is requisite, and fortunately the last
Police Act for that burgh gives ample powers for that purpose. It
provides, by section 20, That no keeper of lodging-houses of an
inferior description, for the accommodation of mendicant strangers and
others, shall receive lodgers without the house having been inspected
and approved of by the superintendent of police, and the
superintendent is authorized to fix the number of lodgers who may be
accommodated, and to order a ticket containing the number of lodgers
for which each house is registered; and any rules or instructions of
the commissioners of police regarding health, cleanliness, and
ventilation, to be placed in a conspicuous part of each room in which
lodgers are received. It also provides that the keepers of such
lodgings offending against these regulations shall be liable in
penalties. Section 21 enacts, That in the event of any person in such
houses becoming ill of fever or other disease, the keepers shall be
bound to give intimation thereof to the superintendent of police or
inspector, so that the disease may be inquired into and treated, and
the magistrates are authorized to order such persons to be removed.
And section 22 further enacts, That on any contagious or infectious
disease occurring in any such lodging-houses, or in any house or
apartment in any house, or apartment in any common tenement, &c.,
where there is reasonable apprehension of such diseases spreading, the
magistrates may cause the remaining lodgers to be removed, and
measures to be taken for the disinfecting and cleaning of the houses
and apartments, and for the washing and purifying of the persons and
clothes of the inhabitants.
“In addition to these excellent provisions, the magistrates of Calton,
in virtue of the powers in their police Acts, have issued the
following rules and instructions to be observed by all keepers of
lodging-houses, viz.—1st. The floors are to be washed at least twice
in each week, viz., on Wednesday and Saturday. 2nd. The walls are to
be whitewashed, and the houses thoroughly cleaned, on the 1st day of
each of the months of June, August, November and March, or on the
following day if any of these days fall on Sunday. And, 3rd. The
blankets used in all lodging-houses are to be thoroughly cleaned and
scoured on the 8th day of each of the months of June, August,
November, and March, or on the following day if any of these days fall
on Sunday; and if any person or persons in such house shall be
affected with fever or other infectious disease, the blankets and bed
clothes used by such person or persons shall be thoroughly cleaned and
scoured immediately after the removal of the diseased, and the bedding
used by persons affected with contagious disease fumigated immediately
after the removal of such person or persons. And where the bedding
used is shavings or straw, the same shall be burnt immediately after
such removal.
“These provisions and regulations have been very judiciously enforced
by the magistrates of Calton and their superintendent of police, and
have been productive of most beneficial results. In addition to what
was formerly stated by Bailie Rutherglen, I have now before me a
distinct statement, by Mr. Smart, regarding the lodging-houses and
state of fever in Calton, which enables me to give the following
information:—Between 1st September, 1840, and 1st February last, 319
persons were brought before the magistrates of Calton for keeping
unregistered lodging-houses. Of these 216 were ordered to desist from
keeping lodgers till houses registered, &c.; 91 were fined and
ordained not to keep lodgers; 12 cases were dismissed. Of the 307
convicted for keeping unregistered lodging-houses, 90 got their houses
inspected and registered, 30 removed from the burgh, and 189 gave over
keeping lodgers, and were refused registration—refused principally on
account of the want of proper accommodation, and a few for harbouring
disreputable characters. Mr. Smart also informs me that several
hundreds of the worst houses of the poorer classes have been
whitewashed with Irish lime, and the lodging-houses having been put
under wholesome regulations, a marked improvement has taken place. In
Whisky-close, New-street, for several years past, as many as 30 cases
of fever occurred annually. Lime-washed in September last, and the
vagrants removed; only one case of fever has been known: and Mr. Smart
concludes, “I believe there are 1000 fever cases less in Calton this
day than there were on 1st September last.” Why should not the same
measures that have been so successfully enforced in Calton be
introduced into the City Proper and the other suburban districts?”
It were only a statement of the concurrent opinion of the commissioners
of police, of magistrates, of medical officers, and of the guardians
charged with the administration of the poor’s rates, to represent the
urgent necessity of legislative provisions for the general adoption of
similar measures throughout the country.
IX.—RECAPITULATION OF CONCLUSIONS.
The last cited instance of the practical operation of measures for the
abatement of the nuisances attendant on common lodging-houses may also
be submitted as an instance of the advantages derivable from the
extension of such fields of inquiries as the present. On each of the
chief points included in it there would have been a loss of what I hope
will be deemed valuable corroborative information, had the inquiry been
confined either to England or to Scotland. The observation of the
important productive use of the refuse of the city of Edinburgh would
have been of comparatively little value as evidence leading to practical
applications, apart from the observation of what is accomplished by the
practical application of science to sewerage and drainage for the
immediate and cheapest removal of all the refuse of towns by water
through closed drains afforded by the operation in the Holborn and
Finsbury division of the metropolis. It may be stated confidently that,
if the inquiry could conveniently have had still further extension as to
time and place, the information would have been strengthened and
rendered more complete. From incidental facts I have met with, I am led
to believe that the whole of the effects which are the subject of the
present report would have been still more strikingly displayed in many
parts of Ireland.
After as careful an examination of the evidence collected as I have been
enabled to make, I beg leave to recapitulate the chief conclusions which
that evidence appears to me to establish.
_First, as to the extent and operation of the evils which are the
subject of the inquiry_:—
That the various forms of epidemic, endemic, and other disease caused,
or aggravated, or propagated chiefly amongst the labouring classes by
atmospheric impurities produced by decomposing animal and vegetable
substances, by damp and filth, and close and overcrowded dwellings
prevail amongst the population in every part of the kingdom, whether
dwelling in separate houses, in rural villages, in small towns, in the
larger towns—as they have been found to prevail in the lowest, districts
of the metropolis.
That such disease, wherever its attacks are frequent, is always found in
connexion with the physical circumstances above specified, and that
where those circumstances are removed by drainage, proper cleansing,
better ventilation, and other means of diminishing atmospheric impurity,
the frequency and intensity of such disease is abated; and where the
removal of the noxious agencies appears to be complete, such disease
almost entirely disappears.
That high prosperity in respect to employment and wages, and various and
abundant food, have afforded to the labouring classes no exemptions from
attacks of epidemic disease, which have been as frequent and as fatal in
periods of commercial and manufacturing prosperity as in any others.
That the formation of all habits of cleanliness is obstructed by
defective supplies of water.
That the annual loss of life from filth and bad ventilation are greater
than the loss from death or wounds in any wars in which the country has
been engaged in modern times.
That of the 43,000 cases of widowhood, and 112,000 cases of destitute
orphanage relieved from the poor’s rates in England and Wales alone, it
appears that the greatest proportion of deaths of the heads of families
occurred from the above specified and other removable causes; that their
ages were under 45 years; that is to say, 13 years below the natural
probabilities of life as shown by the experience of the whole population
of Sweden.
That the public loss from the premature deaths of the heads of families
is greater than can be represented by any enumeration of the pecuniary
burdens consequent upon their sickness and death.
That, measuring the loss of working ability amongst large classes by the
instances of gain, even from incomplete arrangements for the removal of
noxious influences from places of work or from abodes, that this loss
cannot be less than eight or ten years.
That the ravages of epidemics and other diseases do not diminish but
tend to increase the pressure of population.
That in the districts where the mortality is the greatest the births are
not only sufficient to replace the numbers removed by death, but to add
to the population.
That the younger population, bred up under noxious physical agencies, is
inferior in physical organization and general health to a population
preserved from the presence of such agencies.
That the population so exposed is less susceptible of moral influences,
and the effects of education are more transient than with a healthy
population.
That these adverse circumstances tend to produce an adult population
short-lived, improvident, reckless, and intemperate, and with habitual
avidity for sensual gratifications.
That these habits lead to the abandonment of all the conveniences and
decencies of life, and especially lead to the overcrowding of their
homes, which is destructive to the morality as well as the health of
large classes of both sexes.
That defective town cleansing fosters habits of the most abject
degradation and tends to the demoralization of large numbers of human
beings, who subsist by means of what they find amidst the noxious filth
accumulated in neglected streets and bye-places.
That the expenses of local public works are in general unequally and
unfairly assessed, oppressively and uneconomically collected, by
separate collections, wastefully expended in separate and inefficient
operations by unskilled and practically irresponsible officers.
That the existing law for the protection of the public health and the
constitutional machinery for reclaiming its execution, such as the
Courts Leet, have fallen into desuetude, and are in the state indicated
by the prevalence of the evils they were intended to prevent.
_Secondly. As to the means by which the present sanitary condition of
the labouring classes may be improved_:—
The primary and most important measures, and at the same time the most
practicable, and within the recognized province of public
administration, are drainage, the removal of all refuse of habitations,
streets, and roads, and the improvement of the supplies of water.
That the chief obstacles to the immediate removal of decomposing refuse
of towns and habitations have been the expense and annoyance of the hand
labour and cartage requisite for the purpose.
That this expense may be reduced to one-twentieth or to one-thirtieth,
or rendered inconsiderable, by the use of water and self-acting means of
removal by improved and cheaper sewers and drains.
That refuse when thus held in suspension in water may be most cheaply
and innoxiously conveyed to any distance out of towns, and also in the
best form for productive use, and that the loss and injury by the
pollution of natural streams may be avoided. That for all these
purposes, as well as for domestic use, better supplies of water are
absolutely necessary.
That for successful and economical drainage the adoption of geological
areas as the basis of operations is requisite.
That appropriate scientific arrangements for public drainage would
afford important facilities for private land-drainage, which is
important for the health as well as sustenance of the labouring classes.
That the expense of public drainage, of supplies of water laid on in
houses, and of means of improved cleansing would be a pecuniary gain, by
diminishing the existing charges attendant on sickness and premature
mortality.
That for the protection of the labouring classes and of the ratepayers
against inefficiency and waste in all new structural arrangements for
the protection of the public health, and to ensure public confidence
that the expenditure will be beneficial, securities should be taken that
all new local public works are devised and conducted by responsible
officers qualified by the possession of the science and skill of civil
engineers.
That the oppressiveness and injustice of levies for the whole immediate
outlay on such works upon persons who have only short interests in the
benefits may be avoided by care in spreading the expense over periods
coincident with the benefits.
That by appropriate arrangements, 10 or 15 per cent. on the ordinary
outlay for drainage might be saved, which on an estimate of the expense
of the necessary structural alterations of one-third only of the
existing tenements would be a saving of one million and a half sterling,
besides the reduction of the future expenses of management.
That for the prevention of the disease occasioned by defective
ventilation, and other causes of impurity in places of work and other
places where large numbers are assembled, and for the general promotion
of the means necessary to prevent disease, that it would be good economy
to appoint a district medical officer independent of private practice,
and with the securities of special qualifications and responsibilities
to initiate sanitary measures and reclaim the execution of the law.
That by the combinations of all these arrangements, it is probable that
the full ensurable period of life indicated by the Swedish tables; that
is, an increase of 13 years at least, may be extended to the whole of
the labouring classes.
That the attainment of these and the other collateral advantages of
reducing existing charges and expenditure are within the power of the
legislature, and are dependent mainly on the securities taken for the
application of practical science, skill, and economy in the direction of
local public works.
And that the removal of noxious physical circumstances, and the
promotion of civic, household, and personal cleanliness, are necessary
to the improvement of the moral condition of the population; for that
sound morality and refinement in manners and health are not long found
co-existant with filthy habits amongst any class of the community.
I beg leave further to suggest, that the principles of amendment deduced
from the inquiry will be found as applicable to Scotland as to England;
and if so, it may be submitted for attention whether it might not be
represented that the structural arrangements for drainage would be most
conveniently carried out in the same form as in England, that is by
commissions, of the nature of commissions of sewers adapted, as regards
jurisdiction to natural or geological areas, and including in them the
chief elected officers of municipalities, and other authorities now
charged with the care of the streets and roads or connected with local
public works.
The advantages of uniformity in legislation and in the executive
machinery, and of doing the same things in the same way (choosing the
best), and calling the same officers, proceedings, and things by the
same names, will only be appreciated by those who have observed the
extensive public loss occasioned by the legislation for towns which
makes them independent of beneficent, as of what perhaps might have been
deemed formerly aggressive legislation. There are various sanitary
regulations, and especially those for cleansing, directed to be observed
in “every town except Berwick and Carlisle;” a course of legislation
which, had it been efficient for England, would have left Berwick and
Carlisle distinguished by the oppression of common evils intended to be
remedied. It was the subject, of public complaint, at Glasgow and in
other parts of Scotland, that independence and separation in the form of
general legislation separated the people from their share of the
greatest amount of legislative attention, or excluded them from common
interest and from the common advantages of protective measures. It was,
for example, the subject of particular complaint, that whilst the
labouring population of England and Ireland had received the advantages
of public legislative provision for a general vaccination, the labouring
classes in Scotland were still left exposed to the ravages of the
small-pox. It was also complained by Dr. Cowan and other members of the
medical profession, that Scotland had not been included in the
provisions for the registration of the causes of death which they
considered might, with improvements, be made highly conducive to the
advancement of medical science and the means of protecting the public
health.
I have the honour to be,
Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
EDWIN CHADWICK.
APPENDIX.
1.—_Evidence of_ MR. JOHN ROE, _Civil Engineer, on the Practical
Improvement in Sewerage and Drainage tried in the Holborn and Finsbury
Divisions of the Metropolis_.
You are the surveyor to the Holborn and Finsbury Commission of
Sewers?—Yes, I am.
By profession you are an engineer?—Yes; I have been engaged as an
engineer in the formation of canals and railways, and in the drainage
incident to such works.
How long have you acted as surveyor to this branch of sewerage in the
metropolis?—Nearly four years.
Have you observed the general state of the sewerage of the metropolis?—I
have only seen some of the sewers of other divisions, but I am generally
acquainted with the principle of their construction.
Is it generally the same as that in which you found the sewers in the
Holborn and Finsbury divisions?—Yes, except that the forms differ in a
degree; some are flat-bottomed sewers, others segment-bottomed. For a
long time the Holborn and Finsbury divisions have used bottoms of a
semicircular form.
The effect of a flat-bottomed sewer, it is to be presumed, when the
water is shallow and the flow slow, is to leave a larger quantity of
deposit?—Yes; it flows sometimes in a channel, leaving a deposit on each
side; sometimes the water flows on one side, leaving a deposit on the
other; but in all cases the flat-bottomed sewers occasion a larger
amount of deposit with the same flow of water: it is more than one-half
difference of the deposit which is left.
What proportion of the sewerage of the metropolis do you believe to be
flat-bottomed?—I have not examined the other divisions, but I believe
the greater proportion of the sewerage to be flat-bottomed. In the City
they have built some of their sewers in a form nearly similar to those
adopted in the Holborn and Finsbury divisions; that is, approaching to
semicircular. In the Westminster division the invert is a segment of a
circle, whose chord being three feet the versed sine is six inches. Most
new sewers are making an approach to the better form by having segments.
Is it not the fact that in proportion as the bottom approaches a plane
it approaches to the inconvenience of the flat-bottomed sewers, and
weakens the force of the current?—Yes, in a degree, it does.