The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-05-17 00:00:00

SXNIEART AFFAIRS AT BRIEHLEY HILL AND

Ki NOS WIN FORD.

A special meeting of the Brantley Hill Legal Board of
He ilth was held on Tuesday afternoon, when Mr. Cook
presided. and Dr. Ballard illovernment Inspector) at-
trotted and made the following statement :—lie satd at
the and of March last year he was instructed by the
Local Government Board to go over the registration
district 'if Btosibridge respecting the epidemic of small.
pee pervading the Uatoii, with the object of aavising
tee Local Boasda, the Board of Guardians, end the
sanitary authorities, ae to the best meson to alopt to
check the extensiou ef the diseaee ; bet when he
arrived he found that the small-pox had had its run,
and done all the mischief which at the time it was
capable of doing, and that the probability was that, for
the present. they would have no wore of it. At the
same time, he felt it his duty to take into consideration
what tile several Beards lead done and had neglected to
do, as respected the disease, as it had proceeded ; and
also to notice the general sanitary condition of the whole
Union and registration district of Stourbridge, with the
view of liming what Local Boards had done, and what
they were doing, to carry oat the several statutes which
r..fer to sanitary matters—that was to say, to ace how
; far the Boucle were exercising the powers given them
by different Acts of Pergemeut, and what they were
doing top • their districts from ihfection in future;
from small-pox or any other disease. And now as to
' small-pox, which was the first disease Le hid to take
into comideretion, he might say that he went through
,1 the books of the register in order to ascertain what an
amount of deaths bad occurred. In Kiegewinford,
during 1872, there were no lean than 233 deaths from
: emal.-poi, and that in a population of 33,004. It wan
enormous. In that registration of the dia-
-1
rrim thingctlhere were two or three local authorities—one was
the 'Harley B isril, another that of Quarry Bank; and
then for the remainder of the district there WAS the
Board of Guardians. He was then more particuiarly
concerned with the Brierley Hill Local Board. They
would recollect that is the month of May hest year a
letter Was sent to the Local Government Board (he
is-hosed by a Mr. Pearse), in which complaint Was made
of want of action on the part of the Local Board of
Brierley Hill, in cases of small pin. A correspondence
ensued, in the course of which the Board, on the sth
June, stelae through Mr. Holberton that the assertion
of the gentleman referred to, that small-pox was raging
iii the district very violently, wao an exaggeration; and
secondly, they had stated that, is their opinion, every-
thing had been done in order to stamp out that disease.
Upon those statements of the Board be had to make two
observations. As respected the first, he had to remark
that it was no exaggeration to say that small-pox was
raging, when 38 deaths oceurred within three months
in the Brierley Hill district alone, and that in a popular
ton of 11,647. That was the small-pox mortality in
the very quarter in which they had made those state.
meats. He might remind them that it would be equiva-
lent to a death-rate of 13.8, or very nearly 15, which
wee the death-rate which the ltegistrartieneral said
was the nornimal death-rate from all diseases. 'V hey
were clearly in the wrong, then, in stating that it Was
al exaggeration on the part if Mr Pearce. 'risen, as to
their SPCOnti statement, that everything necessary had
been dote, he could ni tat all ogre with it. the, had
nit, for instance, exercised their powers to provide a
temporary hoepital. They were empowered to do that,
for by not doing it they put it out of their power to
isolate cases as mentioned in the 26th section. That
section provided that under certain circumstances where
disease was likely to spread, and so likely to become
dangerous to other people, alt Local Boards could coin.
pilleorily remove such persons and is gate them. They
also failed to provide a mortuary to which the dead
bodies might be removed. They elm negfiainceteeddsodtowtheaelsly.•
c.•rtain from the registrar of deaths, orfrarn the insdicel
men of the town, the streets and the number of the
sh::tasieta
°Sul, wofhitchheitrheposzral
to
01-podtaol occurred, and
in,. Again, he might tell them that they did nut 'Ma-
si le menus of public disinfection ; they did not set
mart any piece at which they chola have bad infected
el-'thing, Arc , attended to. Another thing be would re-
fer to, and that war, that they took out summonses
arainst persons exposing themselves, but did not follow
them out. and thus led people to have little regard for
the proeeentions of the Local Board. They had
eertainly appointed a medical officer. lant the payment
given to Dr. Walker and proposed to be giveo to the
gentleman recentie appointed, did not show that they
had a very high estimate of his services. Finelly, he
would call their attention to the opinion they had upon
themselves, which WAS that the Board had worked
assiduously to stamp oat small-pox, and ne would say
that that certainly was not the ease. They had iteglected
to de • great many things they were empowered to
dn. Bat he would gn on to speak of the general state
of their district In the Regietreee mortality returns
there were certain chemises specified, and the number of
deaths per thousand since 1370. He foand in Kings..
winflrd subdistrict there had been an enormous
mortality fir the population from enteric fever, and
wherever this existed he was certain to find senitary
neglect. Then the scarlet fever mortality in the Kings..
winford sub-district was exceedingly high, and there
was a large mortality in diarrhoea, and from this he
was quite sure there was something absolutely wrong.
He was told that Brierley Hill was scarcely ever free
from enteric fever, and that diarrhoea mortality was
very high. Now, in the next place, he had to remind
them that their district was not systematically 'wavered.
The only sewers extant, he was told by their Survever,
w- re round brick culverts from a foot to two feet
diameter, of an average deieh of three feet These
were constructed merely to carry off the surface water.
In some places even this sort of drainage did not exist.
There were parts of the team, especially in the out-
skirts, which were quite nudrained. Then, to tarn to
the water supply, it appeared that the main portion was
supplied by the Smith Staff irdehire Waterworke Com-
pany. Well, he did not know whether that cnmpaiiy was
quite up to it, work. but it /teemed that the nnly arranger
meet of the It iard with them waa to provide for water-
ing the roads and supplying three public fountains.
They were not bound to Supply domestic premises, and
the fountains were not such as people could take water

from for domestic purposes. Most of the water we. 1.
from wells, and he found that their medical officer (I. .
Walker), during the short period of his temporary
appointment, complained of the !polluted condition of
certain wells in the town. Now, he must way that, as
far as his observation went, the medical officer was
quite right; in fact, there was scarcely a well in that
town which was not polluted. But the Board took no
steps whatever, and yet, under the Sanitary Acts, this
was one of their distinct duties. Now, there were two
things which the Local Government Board could compel
them to do. Under the 49:h section of the Sanitary
Act they could be called upon to provide means to carry
off drainage, and to provide proper water supply. Under
that section the Local Boards could be compelled to do
those works. He found that some of their wells were
only about 12 feet deep, and others from 25 to 30 feet
deep, soil all that he had seen were constructed of loose
bricks, through which, if they looked, they might see
the aortae° water. soaking. Such wells were of no
use, but very hurtful, being completely polluted. He
might tell them that there we. not a well in the place
from which he would drink a draught of water, and he
was led to say this from his kuieeledge of the place and
the prevalence if fever there Dr. Ballard went on to
give instances of the danger which might arise from th,
want of a proper supply of water, the necessity there
was for the removal of various nuisances injurious to
health, and the evils that might arise from the present
custom of keeping swine in a state cf filth. Many of
these nuisances, he said, had been actually complained of
by their medical officer. Looking over his reports he
saw that they were brought before the Board, but no
action was taken. He could not, then, avoid saying that
generally their unitary administration was exceedingly
defective. They had omitted to do a great deal they
ought to have done, but he could not say whether they
had done much which they ought not to have done.
Again, it seemed that the Inspector of Nuisances did
. not make the systematic inspections which were ordered
to be made by the 20th section of the Sanitary Act.
It directed that it was the duty of the nuisance
authority to make, from time to time, an inspection of
the district with the view to aseeitaiu what nuisances
existed. This bat not been done. Then, he might
state, that when summonaes were taken out they were
prepared by the magistrates' clerk, and that, he con-
sidered, war a bad custom. Ni, order, it also appeared,
had ever been sought by the Board to provide against
the recurrence of nuisances such as might be obutined
under Section 13 1 the Nuisances Removals Act,
1865, and this, notwithstanding that its May, 1872. their
officer of health dress their alt i ntion to the recurrence
of nuisances. He had to point out, too, that slaughter-
houses were not regulated ; nor had such of them u
hail caused numances been dealt with by the Board ;
and this, again, nothwithrtandiug the euliject was made
one of specific complaint by their officer of health.
That. he thought, null constitute his bill of indict-
ment ; and it only remained for him to make some
suggestions. He would first, then, recommend that the
Board, with the Sanitary Committee, should meet at
short intervals. He would also recommend that a
oomplaint book should be provided, and public attention
eliould be called to it, and that it should be placed
where it might be conveniently got at. As regarded
drainage, he Was aware that mining operatione rendered
deep drainage is m itter of difficulty, but he was sure
some improvement could be effected. Deep sewerage
might be out of the question, but he thought that they
might employ • proper drainage engineer to go through
the district, and to say what its requiremeots were,
and how for they could be complied with under their
peculiar circumstances. His recommendation, at all
events, to the Local Government Board would be that
the district should be drained, and that the Beard et
Health should take the advice of an engineer welt
qu stifled to overcome the difficulties which might arise.
He was sure Gist something mare could be done in
Brieriey Gill, and, at any rate, it was evident that the
present state of things in some :parts of the district
must be got rid of. His next recommendation us
that of carrying out a systematic inspection, and he
might then go on to remind them that it was the
diatinet duty of the Local Board to provide that privies
and satiptts do not become nuisances ; nod that they
have the power to undertake at the public expenses
and for tbe public advantage, the removal at short,
interval, of excrement ad soil from all premises. They
reelly must mite that matter up, and from his recently
acquired kuo 'fledge, he thought that the tub system
aaopted at itochosoe would be well fitted to that dis-
trict. Then as to wat•-r, It was their ditty to provide
for all parts of their district. It was for them to see
that wholesome water was supplied, and there was no
water that came out of their wells but what was
dangerous. He did not say that it actually produced
disease, but it was daogerous because it came out of
soil which was more or less saturated with filth and
excrement. lie believed that before that 5 asion of
rariiaineut was over, Were would be a means provided
by which they might close unwholesome weds. Finally,
he hail to refer them to the section of the Sande y
Act which related to infections diseases, and he might
suggest tuat they shou4 at once provide • hospital.
He did not meau a building of architectural beauty,
but an efficient place for the reception of eases of in.
Jealous diseases, and to which persons might be re-
moved. They shouid also provide a carriage, and means
of disinfecting bedding, &c. Those were the mate
points, and that was ail he had to say to them on the
subject. He thought he had been rather hard upon
them, but really he considered that the best thing for
him to do was just to bay what he thought, plainly and
distinctly.
the Chairman said that, oa behalf of the Board, be
bad to thank Dr. Ballard for the trouble he had taken
in looking over their district. and in making out the
repott. He had no doubt the Board would take iuto
consideration what had been stated.

7, 1878.

•
He considere4. bosceeso
so fir ea were I from the deirisiesitramesti
I 'what was ving On; but he did noil
think she 11.1 coni!.letely rem ered. He did not Wier,
that on Thursday the prisoner was responsible for bin
actions.

Prieoner, who had nothir.g to say wheat 10,111finy
charged. was committed for tr.al at the *mixes.

.„
On Monday afternoon an inquest was held on the
body of the child before Mr. Brooke Robinson, bon.",
coroner, and after hearing the evidence, whisk in neZi
was the same as that given above, a verdict nil "Wilk
murder against the mother, Fanny Cook, wig r,suisi.
The husband told the jury that, although his wife bed
been addicted to drink, ehe was very fond of lba,
children.