November, 1840, to 10th November, 1841, in some of the Wynds and Closes
of Edinburgh, compared with the Sickness experienced in the Edinburgh
Prison, by the East India Company’s Labourers, and by the Members of
Benefit Societies, as shown in the Highland Society’s Tables.
┌────────┬──────────────────┬─────────╥──────────┐
│ Age. │ Females. │ Closes ║Prison of │
│ │ │ and ║Edinburgh.│
│ │ │ Wynds. ║ │
├────────┼────────┬─────────┼─────────╫──────────┤
│ │ No. of │ Actual │ Average ║ Average │
│ │Persons.│Sickness,│duration ║ duration │
│ │ │ Closes │ of ║ of │
│ │ │and Wynds│Sickness ║ Sickness │
│ │ │ of │per Annum║per Annum │
│ │ │Edinburgh│for every║for every │
│ │ │ │ Female. ║ Female. │
│ │ │ │ ║ │
│ │ │ │ ║ │
├────────┼────────┼─────────┼─────────╫──────────┤
│ Years. │ │ Days. │Days and ║ Days and │
│ │ │ │Decimals.║Decimals. │
│Under 12│ 12│ 98│ 8·1║ │
│12 to 16│ 19│ 244│ 12·8║ ·90│
│16 to 21│ 19│ 112│ 5·9║ ·60│
│21 to 26│ 18│ 273│ 15·1║ 2·87│
│26 to 31│ 23│ 215│ 9·3║ 2·90│
│31 to 36│ 12│ 133│ 11·0║ 2·01│
│36 to 41│ 30│ 199│ 6·6║ 1·17│
│41 to 46│ 9│ 84│ 9·3║ 8·25│
│46 to 51│ 11│ 477│ 43·3║ ·93│
│51 to 56│ 5│ 81│ 16·2║ 2·21│
│56 to 61│ 10│ 71│ 7·1║ ·00│
│61 to 66│ 5│ 56│ 11·2║ ·00│
│66 to 71│ 1│ 0│ ·0║ ·00│
│71 to 76│ 2│ 365│ 182·5║ ·00│
│76 to 81│ 1│ 35│ 35·║ ·00│
├────────┼────────┼─────────┼─────────╫──────────┤
│ Total. │ 177│ 2,443│ 13·8║ 1·9│
└────────┴────────┴─────────┴─────────╨──────────┘
┌────────┬──────────────────┬─────────╥──────────┬──────────┐
│ Age. │ Males. │ Closes ║Prison of │East India│
│ │ │ and ║Edinburgh.│Company’s │
│ │ │ Wynds. ║ │Labourers.│
├────────┼────────┬─────────┼─────────╫──────────┼──────────┤
│ │ No. of │ Actual │ Average ║ Average │ Average │
│ │Persons.│Sickness,│duration ║ duration │ duration │
│ │ │ Closes │ of ║ of │ of │
│ │ │and Wynds│Sickness ║ Sickness │ Sickness │
│ │ │ of │per Annum║per Annum │per Annum │
│ │ │Edinburgh│for every║for every │for every │
│ │ │ │ Male. ║ Male. │ Male. │
│ │ │ │ ║ │ │
│ │ │ │ ║ │ │
├────────┼────────┼─────────┼─────────╫──────────┼──────────┤
│ Years. │ │ Days. │Days and ║ Days and │ Days and │
│ │ │ │Decimals.║Decimals. │Decimals. │
│Under 12│ 6│ 21│ 3·5║ │ │
│12 to 16│ 21│ 49│ 2·3║ 1·23│ │
│16 to 21│ 19│ 98│ 5·1║ 3·10│ 4·02│
│21 to 26│ 7│ 77│ 11·0║ 1·64│ 5·40│
│26 to 31│ 16│ 133│ 8·3║ 2·72│ 4·49│
│31 to 36│ 17│ 70│ 4·1║ 2·63│ 4·55│
│36 to 41│ 19│ 287│ 15·1║ ·85│ 5·57│
│41 to 46│ 13│ 393│ 30·0║ ·51│ 5·18│
│46 to 51│ 15│ 243│ 16·2║ 2·31│ 5·43│
│51 to 56│ 5│ 152│ 30·4║ 8·71│ 6·80│
│56 to 61│ 9│ 385│ 42·7║ 13·09│ 7·21│
│61 to 66│ 5│ 321│ 64·2║ 4·27│ 10·24│
│66 to 71│ 2│ 82│ 41·0║ ·00│ 9·93│
│71 to 76│ 3│ 251│ 83·6║ ·00│ 10·60│
│76 to 81│ │ │ ║ 18·25│ 12·67│
├────────┼────────┼─────────┼─────────╫──────────┼──────────┤
│ Total. │ 157│ 2,562│ 16·3║ 2·4│ │
└────────┴────────┴─────────┴─────────╨──────────┴──────────┘
┌────────┬────────────────┬───────┬──────────┐
│ Age. │ Highland │Closes │Prison of │
│ │ Society. │ and │Edinburgh.│
│ │ │Wynds. │ │
├────────┼──────┬─────────┼───────┼──────────┤
│ │ Age. │ Average │Deaths.│ Deaths. │
│ │ │duration │ │ │
│ │ │ of │ │ │
│ │ │Sickness │ │ │
│ │ │per Annum│ │ │
│ │ │for every│ │ │
│ │ │ Man, as │ │ │
│ │ │shown by │ │ │
│ │ │Tables of│ │ │
├────────┼──────┼─────────┼───┬───┼────┬─────┤
│ Years. │Years.│Days and │M. │F. │ M. │ F. │
│ │ │Decimals.│ │ │ │ │
│Under 12│ │ │ 1│ │ │ │
│12 to 16│ 21│ 4·0│ │ │ │ │
│16 to 21│ 46│ 7·0│ │ │ 1│ │
│21 to 26│ 57│ 14·0│ │ 2│ │ │
│26 to 31│ 63│ 21·0│ │ │ │ │
│31 to 36│ 65│ 30·8│ │ │ │ │
│36 to 41│ 66│ 37·8│ │ │ │ │
│41 to 46│ 67│ 46·2│ │ 1│ │ │
│46 to 51│ 68│ 56·0│ │ │ 1│ │
│51 to 56│ 69│ 63·0│ │ │ 1│ │
│56 to 61│ 70│ 70·0│ 1│ │ │ │
│61 to 66│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│66 to 71│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│71 to 76│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│76 to 81│ │ │ │ │ 1│ │
├────────┼──────┼─────────┼───┼───┼────┼─────┤
│ Total. │ │ │ 2│ 3│ 4│ │
└────────┴──────┴─────────┴───┴───┴────┴─────┘
29.—_Suggested Form of Notification to Owners or Occupiers for the
distribution of the Expense of permanent Alterations, and the avoidance
of Overcharges on persons enjoying only portions of the benefit._
The Commissioners of Sewers appointed to superintend the execution of
the Act of Victoria, passed for the protection of the public health,
which requires that every inhabited tenement shall be provided with
proper means of drainage, and cleansing, and the removal of refuse, have
caused a survey to be made of the houses and tenements in—[court or
street, as the case may be]. On this survey it appears that your house,
with others in the same place, are without the requisites required by
law; that they are without proper sewers, without drainage from the
house, and without water or proper means for the constant removal of
night-soil, or conveniences for cleansing.
By the section of the Act the several requisites hereunder described
are directed to be provided and completed within months after this
date.
The Commissioners have directed tenders for contracts upon
specifications to be taken for the execution of the required works,
under a civil engineer, in the most beneficial manner and at the lowest
cost.
They are also prepared to take loans on the security of the rates for
defraying the expenses of the execution of the works contracted for.
It will be at your option either to repay at once the cost of the
requisite works by which the property will be benefited, or to repay it
by annual instalments in 30 year, paying 5 per cent. interest on the
principal sum expended, or on that part of it that may, from time to
time, remain unpaid.
To save the trouble and expense of a double collection, annual
instalments and the interest on the principal sums expended will be
collected from the tenant with rates. Where the landlord is under any
agreement or obligation to cleanse the cesspools, the tenant will be
entitled to deduct from the rent the charge for the drainage and
apparatus for cleansing. Where the tenant pays rent weekly, or at
shorter periods than quarterly, and does not pay rates, the charge
for the works in question is required by the statute to be paid by the
owner of the tenement, who will levy the amount with the rent, or make
his own terms with the tenant for the improvement in question.
The cost of the required improvements or principal sum, which will be
charged at the contract prices, together with the annual instalments and
interest thereon, and the weekly charge or improved rent that may be due
or charged on the weekly tenant, will be as follows:—
┌───────────────────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┐
│ │ │ Annual │ │
│ │ │ Interest, │ │
│ │ │commuted at 5│Weekly Charge│
│ │ Annual │per cent. on │ to the │
│First Outlay per Tenement. │ Instalment │ Outlay, │ Tenant, or │
│ │for Repayment│ charged as │ Increased │
│ │in 30 years. │ Rent on │ Rent. │
│ │ │ Tenant, and │ │
│ │ │ Annual Rent │ │
│ │ │ of Water. │ │
├───────────────────────────┼──────┬──────┼──────┬──────┼──────┬──────┤
│ £. _s._ _d._│ _s._ │ _d._ │ _s._ │ _d._ │ _s._ │ _d._ │
│Water-closet │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Water-tank 10 8 6│ 6│ 11│ 6│ 8│ 0│ 3│
│ Drain │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│Main Sewer 5 12 0│ 3│ 9│ 3│ 6│ 0│ 1½│
│Water │ │ │ 5│ 0│ 0│ 1│
├───────────────────────────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┤
│ Total │ 10│ 8│ 15│ 2│ 0│ 5½│
└───────────────────────────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┘
If the landlord undertake to cleanse the cesspools, then the additional
weekly charge on the occupier for the supplies of water and drainage
will be 2½_d._ weekly, involving, as the occupier should be informed,
the conveniences, cleanliness, and security to health, and saving of
medical expenses.
Persons having only interests in property for years or for determinate
periods may, by means of the above table, distribute amongst the persons
successively interested in the property the portions of the charge to
which they are liable.
The surveyor and officers of sewers are charged with the duty of from
time to time inspecting and seeing to the sufficiency of the means of
drainage and cleansing. By the terms of the contract the contractor is
bound to make good the drains for years, but the tenant will be
liable to make good any wanton damage.
The Act gives to the owner of the beneficial interest in the premises
the option of executing the prescribed works himself, on giving notice
on or before the of such his intention, and entering into his surety
to execute them within the time prescribed and according to the contract
specifications, to the satisfaction of the officer charged with the
superintendence of the work.
30.—_Extracts from Evidence on the Moral and Physical Evils which may be
created by the mode of Hiring and Paying Workmen._
(Extract from Evidence given before a Committee of the House of
Commons.)
CHARLES SAUNDERS.
What is your occupation?—Coal-whipper.
Have the goodness to state to the Committee the manner in which coal
whippers are engaged and paid?—I have been in the habit of obtaining a
living by coal whipping for the last 10 years, and when I want
employment, (me and the likes of me of course,) I have to go to the
publican to get a job, to ask him for a job; and he tells me to go and
sit down, and he will give me an answer by and by. I go and sit down,
and if I have 2_d._ in my pocket, of course I am obliged to spend it,
with a view of getting a job; and, probably, when two or three hours
have elapsed, by that time there is about 50 or 60 people come on the
same errand to the same person for a job. He keeps us three or four
hours there; and then he comes out, and he looks round among us, and he
knows those well that can drink the most, and those are the people that
obtain employment first. Those that cannot drink a great deal, and think
more of their family than others do, cannot obtain any employment; those
that drink the most get the most employment. When the men are made up
for the ship, we go to work the next day morning, but we have to take
what the publican calls the allowance, such as a quartern of rum, or
three half-quarterns, or a pot of beer, or what not; then they have to
take a pot of beer off in a bottle on board,—what he calls beer, but not
fit for a man to drink, generally speaking, what I call poison: I have
actually teemed it overboard myself, before I could drink it; I could
not drink it, although I have been sweating and as thirsty as a man
could be, and have put it overboard, and gone and dipped my bottle in a
bucket of water.
In the after part of the day, when your work was over, where did you go
then?—Then, when we have done our day’s work, we came on shore, and we
had to go into the house again; and perhaps we might want a shilling or
two to get our families a little support; the landlord would tell us to
go and sit down in the tap-room, and he would give us some by and by,
and he would keep us there until nine or ten at night; first, we would
go for a pint or a pot, or what not, to see whether he was getting
ready, for we dare not go empty-handed, without a pot or pint, or to
call for something by way of excuse; after keeping us there until nine
or ten at night, then he would give us 2_s._ 6_d._ or 3_s._
Were you obliged to spend money in drink?—Yes.
Could you not avoid it by any means?—No.
What would have happened if you had refused to spend money in
drink?—Then we could have no employment; and moreover than that, if you
had had what you thought was requisite, if he did not think it was
sufficient, he would add more than what you had actually contracted for;
and if you refused to pay this, and you said, “I have not had but so
much, I won’t pay it.” “Oh, won’t you; if you do not, here is your
money, what you say it is; go out, and never come in here again.”
Have you known anybody refused employment because they would not
contribute to the publican’s demand for drink?—Yes, I could find 50.
Who have lost their employment because they would not drink so much as
the publican wished?—Yes, I could.
Could you not engage yourself to the captain of the ship without going
to the publican?—No, for the publicans are some of them shipowners, and
they are all intermixed through the trade by one thing and another, so
that the captain or owner of the ship gives the favour to the publican
to employ the whippers.
MR. CLAYDON, _Master of the Limehouse Workhouse, belonging to the
Stepney Union_.
With respect to the labouring classes, have you observed whether, with
respect to any of them, these ill-regulated inclinations are subjected
to unnecessary temptations?—The practice of paying men at public houses,
and making the obtaining employment dependent in a certain measure upon
drinking, which is the case with the coal-whippers.
Have you ever had occasion as respects the coal-whippers to investigate
those cases?—We did at one period, having an opportunity, investigate
upwards of 40 cases of coal-whippers.
Those were 40 applicants for relief?—The greater part of them were; 22
of them were in the immediate receipt of relief at the time the others
were applicants.
What was the result in those cases?—We took their earnings over a
considerable period, and we found that they had earned, taking the
average, 18_s._ 10_d._ per week. The utmost we could make out that their
families had received of that, in any shape, was 12_s._ 10_d._ per week.
Whatever might have been their family, one-third of it had gone in drink
and those charges which were brought against them.
Had any of those men earned more than that?—There were instances in
which they had earned 20_s._ a-day.
And all came upon the pauper list just the same?—Yes, just as destitute
as the rest, saving never seems to enter into their calculation at all.
Then with respect to this particular class, notwithstanding their
earning wages twice as much as agricultural labourers earn probably, and
which agricultural labourers save money, and are depositors in
savings-banks, these men made no deposits, and no reserve, but the whole
of them fall upon the rates? In one shape or other they receive the
public charity, is that so?—Yes, in fact they have not the means
possessed by other labourers, of pawning anything. I question whether
you could find as much furniture in any one of their houses, as you
could pawn for 2_s._ 6_d._
Not even in those cases where they are earning a guinea a-day?—No, they
are all alike destitute, and their families look as dirty and as filthy,
and are as ill-governed, and their houses are as destitute of furniture
as those who earn the smaller sums, there is no difference; and in case
of sickness they come at once upon the parish, unless they sometimes
assist each other a little; but, however, they have no certain means at
all but the parish. Their sicknesses are generally short. In most cases
they are so ill prepared to bear sickness, that they are cut off very
rapidly, and die comparatively young. I do not speak this from actual
experience however.
Have you seen the cases of the widows, and the children coming in upon
the parish?—Yes, we have 28 cases now. Our present numbers are 425
children, that is from the whole of the Union; there is only a small
portion of the Union in the coal-whippers’ district, but we have 28
children directly belonging to them, some of them legitimate, and others
illegitimate; all of that origin that we know decidedly that they are
the produce of those coal-whippers.
Are the same observations as to the causes of the pauperism of the
adults to be taken as to the causes of the pauperism of the
children?—Yes. The observation is universal. The children cannot have
produced it themselves, but they have the same habits and the same
proneness to indulge the appetites, in fact I think there is a
remarkable deficiency in the consideration of most parents, in that
matter, even of respectable parents; they let their children go to the
confectioners and buy drams, for they are drams in another form,
peppermint and cloves, and so on, made up into articles of
confectionary, and nothing is so likely to produce a depraved appetite,
the transition is so natural from that to ardent spirit.
With respect to the residences of those classes, the coal-whippers
especially, have you observed whether you have bad any cases of sickness
arising from their state of filthiness, or traceable to it?—I do not
know whether we can attribute it to that, but nothing can be more
likely, although it is impossible to say, for the coal-whipper is very
little at home, still nothing can be conceived more destitute, or more
disgusting than their abodes.
What are the sorts of children you receive in the house from them with
respect to training or education, that is, of those classes of
coal-whippers?—They are completely uneducated; the generality of them
are very untractable.
Allowed to run about wild?—Completely.
No care taken of them?—Not the ordinary care of cleanliness. I had three
in last night, and notwithstanding all our anxiety after economy we were
obliged to burn every rag of their clothes. To cleanse them was out of
the question entirely; that is the case with half that come in to the
workhouse.
_Mr. Sargeant_, the relieving officer of the same district.
Is it not your duty to visit the houses, and to inquire into the cases
of applicants for relief? Yes, it is.
In doing so, you must trace the causes of the application for
relief?—Yes.
What is the chief cause you find precede the application for
relief?—Excessive drink.
In respect to those trammels which it is described that the
coal-whippers are in, what is the consequence as to their households?
how do you find, when you visit those cases, that their houses are
provided?—I would rather sleep in my coal-hole than in any of their
hovels. I went into six houses yesterday, each house contains four
rooms, and in some of those houses there were 30 souls. In the least
house there were 17.
How many sleep in the same room?—In one room there were four widows and
two children, in the most wretched place imaginable.
Are quarrels between man and wife frequent?—Yes; through drink.
Are separations frequent? Yes; separations through drink on the part of
the wife.
How many cases have you of wives separated from their husbands in the
same way? I have had 15.
The wives, then, have imbibed the habits of the husbands? Yes.
Is there no cleanliness on a Sunday? Oh dear, no!
No attendance to church? No.
As to the children, what is their condition? The children of most abject
wretchedness. Those poor children are sent out to scour the streets, to
pick up and do anything else they can; and not particular to thieving.
What the condition of the girls?—The girls, when infants of seven years
of age, are turned out into the streets with fruit and all sorts of
things; when they arrive at the age of 14, go to stay stitching; then
they sit in doors at home with their mother, and so on, until the age of
15 or 16, when they generally become prostitutes. I see it, because I am
always amongst them. I have tried to get them to send those girls out to
service, when they say, “Mr. Sargeant, what am I to do? my husband earns
but little, I am obliged to depend upon what my daughter can do and
myself.”
_Mr. Rooke_, the relieving officer of St. George’s in the East.
I know the poor population of our parish well. I know that a large
proportion of the juvenile delinquents in our streets are coal-whippers’
children; I have known some of them to be transported. I know also that
the girls, who are coal-whippers’ children, turn out prostitutes; it is
seldom that any of them turn out to be good servants. Delirium tremens
is a frequent complaint amongst the coal-whippers, and it sometimes
extends to madness. There is one girl, for example, Margaret Harley,
aged 25, the daughter of a coal-whipper, who, for the last 10 years, has
always been either in a prison, in our workhouse, or the lunatic asylum;
I do not believe that during that time she has been 10 months out of
either of those places. I know a large proportion of the prostitutes in
our district who, as the children of these improvident classes, have
either been inmates of the house or otherwise chargeable to the public.
-----
Footnote 1:
The Commissioners have no money to remunerate physicians; and those
named should be distinctly informed that the service will be purely
honorary.
Footnote 2:
Vide Appendix C.
Footnote 3:
See the evidence on this subject taken before the Committee of the
House of Commons, on the sewerage of the metropolis; see also the
evidence of _Mr. Oldfield_, an extensive builder, _post_.
Footnote 4:
Vide the evidence of Mr. Dark and Mr. Treble, Appendix.
Footnote 5:
Mr. Smith, of Deanston, is of opinion that it would be practicable to
distribute such refuse by irrigation without exposure of the surface
of the fluid in which it is held in suspension.
Footnote 6:
Professor Liebig in his work on the “Chemistry of Agriculture,” refers
to various authorities on the practical value of such refuse, who
state that “human urine is, if possible, more husbanded by the Chinese
than night-soil for manure; every farm or patch of land for
cultivation has a tank, where all substances convertible into manure
are carefully deposited, the whole made liquid by adding urine in the
proportion required, and invariably applied in that state.” This is
exactly the process followed in the Netherlands.—See “Outlines of
Flemish Husbandry,” p. 22. “The business of collecting urine and
night-soil employs an immense number of persons, who deposit tubs in
every house in the cities for the reception of the urine of the
inmates, which vessels are removed daily with as much care as our
farmers remove their honey from the hives. When we consider the
immense value of night-soil as a manure, it is quite astounding that
so little attention is paid to preserve it. The quantity is immense
which is carried down by the drains in London to the river Thames,
serving no other purpose than to pollute its waters. A substance which
by its putrefaction generates miasmata may, by artificial means, be
rendered totally inoffensive, inodorous, and transportable, and yet
prejudice prevents these means being resorted to. If,” says the
professor, “we admit that the liquid and solid excrements of man
amount on an average to 1½ lb. daily (5/4 lb. of urine and ¼ lb.
fæces), and that both together contain 3 per cent. of nitrogen; then
in one year they will amount to 547 lbs., which contain 16·41 lbs. of
nitrogen, a quantity sufficient to yield the nitrogen of 800 lbs. of
wheat, rye, oats, or of 900 lbs. of barley.”—(Boussingault) “This is
much more than is necessary to add to an acre of land in order to
obtain, with the assistance of the nitrogen absorbed from the
atmosphere, the richest possible crop every year. Every town and farm
might thus supply itself with the manure which, besides containing the
most nitrogen, contains also the most phosphates, and if rotation of
the crops were adopted, they would be most abundant.”—Edited by Dr.
LYON PLAYFAIR.
Footnote 7:
See _post_.
Footnote 8:
Treatise on Road Formation and Cleansing.
Footnote 9:
See in the Appendix the form of calculation.
Footnote 10:
In Paris the greater proportion of the private houses are even now
supplied with water only by water-carriers, and the means of the
immediate conveyance of refuse, by a system of water-closets
communicating through drains to sewers to receptacles for use, could
not have been presented to the consideration of the men of science to
whom the subject was referred. It appears that in the first class of
houses in that city the cesspools were formerly only emptied once in
four or five years, and that it is now considered a great improvement
that they are emptied twice or thrice a-year. But the offensiveness
and the frequent injurious effects from emptying and removing the
contents, has led to the proposal of a plan of closed receptacles or
removable tanks, in which the soil maybe carted away to the place of
deposit for use as manure. The retention, however, of accumulations,
which can only be constantly removed by means of water, and the want
of proper supplies of water laid on in the houses very seriously
disparages the salubrity and habits of the population of that city, as
well as of the towns in this country where the same practice prevails.
Footnote 11: