The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-07 00:00:00

HEALTH OF TOWNS ASSOCIATION.

A meeting of the General Committee of the
Health of Towns Association was held yesterday afternoon
in the rooms of the Statistical Society, No. Li, St. James's-
square, Lord Adiley in the chair. It was nume-
rously attended. The minutes of the proceedings of the
meeung held on the 12th of August last having been read
and confirmed, . .

The CHAJIVAAN rose and said they were to-day assembled
for the purpose of taking into consideration the best means
of distributing through the country the Report which had
been prepared under the auspices of the Association, and
was now ready for circulation, in order to draw public atten-
tion, and that of the government, to its contents. He (the
Ch airman) thought the subject-matter with which the report
dealt, namely, the sanatory condition of the poorer classes,
was one which, in all its bearings, was the most important
that could be agitated. It affected the condition of the
people in all its aspects, and unless prop -Hy handled, it
would neutralize every aloft for their moral and physical
improvement. He did not speak from books on this subject,
but from experience ; for, during the last two or three years he
had gone a good deal amongst the people in all parts of the
kingdom, and he could say that not only in the metropolis, but
elsewhere,such was the condition of their dwellings, such the
want of ventilation and drainage, that every act to amelio-
rate their condition in other respects would he neutralised,
unless the causes of the mischief which intercepted all
human enjoyment were removed. Ile had before hint a
document published by the authority of the Registrar-
General, containing a table of the number of deaths in lid
districts during the quarter ending the 30th September last,
and it showed the number to exceed that of the correspond-
ing quarter last year by 15,227 deaths. On this extreme
mortality, this comment was made by the Registrar-
General :

"In the annual reports and quarterly returns the causes of these
differences in the mortality of the s veral parts of the country and the
population have been discussed. The high mortality of towns has
been [rated to crowded loilgthwi, dirty dwelling., personal uncleanli-
nss—the concentration of unhealthy emanations from narrow streets
without fresh air, water, or sewers. The rapidity of decomposition,
and the facility with which all kinds of animal matter become tainted
and run into putrefaction, enable to to umlerstand how a summer
like the past, in which the temperature was unusually high, the
disaw.s referable to an impure atmosphere, should be so prevalent
and fatal."

The consequences of this state of thing, and the degradation
to which the survivors in families were brought, defied all
description. Dr. Southwood Smith would bear him out when
besaid that fevers of the description which caused this mor-
tality, invariably fell upon the heads of the families, and
hence the father cut off in the prime of life left a family of
children to become the occupants of a workhou,e. (Hear,
hear.) It was impossible to go into the dwellings of these
classes, and not sec that their physical degradation had a
powerful influence upon their moral and social condition.
So long as the people were in that state, it was useless to
build schools or chapels. So long as they were left iu their
present condition at their homes, every sort of temptation 0
mischief and to habits of inebriation must follow. In ti e
same document he foundithe following comment made by the
Registr.r of deaths for the Deansgate district, in the town of
Manchester:

" How pitiful is the condition of many thousands of children born
in this world. Here, in one of the most advanced nations of Europe
—in one of the largest t .wns of England—in the midst of a ula.
Hon unmatched for its energy, industry, and manufacturing skill—in
Manchester, the centre of a victorious agitation for commeteial free-
' dom—asairing to literary culture—where Percival wrote and Dalton
lived -thirteen thousand three hundred and sixty-two children dial
in seven scars over and above the mortality natural to mankind.
These ' little children' brought up in unclean dwellings, and impure
streets, were Jett alone long days by their mothers, to breathe the
subtle, sickly, vapours ; soothed by opium—a more' cursed distilla-
tion than behenon ;' and when assailed by mortal diseases, their
stomachs torn, their bodies convulsed, their brains bewildered, left
to die without medical aid—which, like Hope, should ' come to all'—
the skilled medical man never being called in at all, or only summoned
to witness the death and sanction the funeral."
(Applause.) From his experience, and (rent what
he had seen in connexion with the Ragged Schools,
he could assert that this statement was in no de-
gree overcharged and he repeated that which was
the conviction of his mind, that no permanent good could
he effected for the moral and social improvement of the
people, so long as matters remained at their domiciles in the
state in which they were now to be found. With these
feelings, he hoped that the able report, which was now
ready for circulation, would be made generally known, so
that the Government would at last be excited, first to the
sense, and next to the discharge, of its duty in this respect.
(Applause.)
The Hon. Mr. Brice moved the first resolution—
" That this association regards with great se prehension the exclu-
sion of the Metropolis, and of Scotland and Ireland, from the imme-
diate operation of any sanatory measure, and respectfully urges upon
Her Majesty's Government the desirableness of causing a report to
be prepared, developing any special and peculiar means that may
appear to be necessary for bringing these Important portions of the
empire under a general act ;
and in doing so drew a lamentable portion of the evils
arising from a deficient sewage in the City of West-
minster.

The Rey. Mr. CHAIIPNRTR, in seconding the motion, de-
picted the state of disease and wretchedness arising from the
same cause, which existed amongst the poorer classes of the
extensive parish of which he had the spiritual charge—that
of Whitechapel. He was wholly at a loss to understand the
principle upon which the metropolis was to be excluded from
the provisions of any legislative sanatory measure. Owing
to defective sanatory regulations, the average duration of
life in his parish was only 25 years, while in the next parish,
not a mile distant, the average duration of human life was
45 years. He heartily hoped that the facts detailed in the
able report on the:table would be made extensively known,
and that the government would be induced to consider the
sanatory condition of the metropolis—the heart of the
empire—when they legislated for parts around it. The
resolution Wall put and passed unanimously.
Lord EMU:4O7Og, after expressing his regret that
his official duties at the Treasury had prevented him being
present at the commencement of the proceedings, said he had
great pleasure in moving the resolution just put into his
hands, which was to the effect that
Oopiro of the report of the association be forwarded to the authori-
ties of the principal towns in Scotland and Ireland and to their repro-
sedatives In parliament, requesting their co-operation in carrying out
an eflieient and general sanatory act.
The noble lord suggested that the great difficulty which
stood in the way of the government in this matter was the
existing indifference of the public on the one hand, and the
strenuous opposition of interested parties on the other. The
most enlightened men of the late and of the present govern-
ment were fully alive to the importance of this subject; and
if this associatiou could be the means of moving the public
indifference to lively interest, there could be little doubt,
with that assistance, the government would be enabled to
induce parliament to consent to a general measure of sana-
tory regulations, which, although it might be unpalatable to
interested individuals, would be of essential service to the
well-being of the state. Before sitting down he could not
avoid suggesting the adoption of a plan which would show,
in a tabular form, the lamentable loss of human life which
the body of the report disclosed.
Dr. Sot•rttwoov Baum intimated that he had prepared a
resolution, in the form of an instruction to the sub-com-
mittee, for that purpose.
Mr. GRAINGER seconded the resolution proposed by Lord
Ebrington, convinced as he was of the necessity of a general
measure, which should not only comprise the metropolis and
the large towns, but the villages and the rural districts.—
The resolution was carried without a dissentient voice.

Mr. TOYSHEE proposed the next resolution—
That the rib-committee be requested to communicate with the I
branch associations and with those municipal authorities who have
taken active stem for the sanatory improvement of the population, in
a general measure of legislation, which their own local observation
and experience has shown to be needful for insuring the adoption of
complete and efficient prerendve measures.
The speaker pointed out the evils and malaria arising from
the existence in various parts of the metropolis of slaughter-
houses, as calling for legislative interference. He felt con-
vinced that as typhus could not be successfully treated, if
proper sanatory measures were adopted, bath scrofula
and consumption could be wholly eradicated. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. W. Hower seconded the resolution, which, like its
predecessor, passed unanimously.
Mr. Hien, M.P.. moved a resolution to the effect
That her Majesty's government be respectfully requested to grant
to a deputation of the association a conference on tie Kum/cations con-
tained in the report, and that deputations from the several branch
associations in England, Scotland, and Ireland, be invited to attend.
In moving this resolution, the hon. member observed that,
though an humble member of the government, ha felt con-
fident that any administration would feel anxious to be made
acquainted with the valuable and interesting information
contained in the report prepared by the labours of this asso-
ciation, and he was satisfied that the noble lord now at the
head of the department of Woods and Foreste, whose atten-
tion had been as xiously turned to the subject, would rejoice
to receive any information from a deputation of this society.
Dr. SOUTHWOOD SMITH seconded the motion, and ob-
served that he thought it would hardly be right for him to
allow the meeting to separate without stating that the expe-
rience of the London Fever Hospital was in strict accordance
with the statements contained in the report of the Registrar-
General, which had been referred to by the noble lord
in the chair. In the early part of the present year fever
was not very prevalent in London, but latterly it had been
again an epidemic, and of a character more then usually
severe. In the country districts the mortality had been
more than the usual average. Such was tho case at Ox-
ford. In Sheffield the number of death, was double
those of the cmresponding quarter of last veer, with 149
more ; and in Birmingham it was 2.39 more than the double
amount of the usual average. The notes appended to the
report of the Registrar-General from those of the local
registrars, stated the melancholy truth that the amount of
deaths in the last quarter more than doubled that of any
quarter sirce the Ristgistration Act had come into ope-
ration. (Hear. hear.) It was now ten years since the con-
dition of the labouring classes in Whitechapel had been
brought under the notice of the public and of the Govern-
ment, and yet to this hour nothing had been done to remedy
the evils. In the language of the report, " the returns of
the last quarter prove that nothing effectual has been done
to put a stop to the disease, suffering, and death, in
which so many thousands perish. The improvements,
chiefly of a showy, superficial, outside character,
have not reached the homes and habits of [lin people. The
house and children of the labouring man can only be kept
clean and healthy by the assiduous labour a well-trained
industrious wife, as any one who has paid the least attention
to the subject is aware. This is overlooked in Lancashire,
where the woman is often engaged in labour from home.
The consequence is, that thousands, not only of the children
but of the men and women themselves, perish of diseases,
formerly so fatal, fur the same reasons, in barracks, camps,
gaols and ships." He earnestly supported the motion, in the
hope that the government would be led to consider the im-
portant suggestions put forth in the report.
The resolution was agreed to, as was also one (suggested
by Lord Ashley) to the effect that a gen, rel appeal be made
to the public for contributions in aid of the funds, which are
nearly exhausted, with a view to the circulation of the
report, and fur the other purposes of the association.
Thanks were then voted to the Chairman, who acknow-
ledged the compliment, and the meeting broke up shortly
before six o'clock.