The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-20 00:00:00

PROGRESS OF THE CHOLERA.

The Report of the General Board of Health upon
cholera in Newcastle and the neighbourhood is as
follows :

NEWCASTLE.
Cholera. Diarrhoea.
17th lOl
ISth (up to 12 p.m.) 93
GATESHEAD.
Total deaths from 2nd to 17th.

Gateshead

Heworth
Whisk ham
Winlaton

167

195
The proportion of the mortality in corresponding pe-
riods of the outbreak of 1831 and 1353 is as follows :

NEWCASTLE 1853.
During the first 19 days (from 31st August to 18th
September) there have been
Deaths from cholera and diarrhoea
1831.
During the first 19 days in 1831 9th De-
cember to 27th) there were

19 days (1853)..
19 days (1831)..

............... 557
............... 91

Excess in 1853
The mortality for Saturday, it will be seen, is but
little in excess of that of the day before. The complete
record for Sunday has not yet reached London. A very
important steps has been taken to-day by the authorities
in London.

It has been found that, in a part of Newcastle called
Sandgate, 4,000 people are living in a state of such
filth, overcrowding, and absolute want of the common-
est convenience for either decency •r cleanliness, that
the only hope of effectually checking the progress of the
epidemic among them, is to remove them from the
locality.
The inspector of the General Board of Health has
recommended acting on the experience of 1849, when
in the small town of Mevagissey, in Cornwall, where
the habitations of the poor are closely packed, and
where the whole site is described as one mass of filth
which could not be removed in time to avert the most
disastrous consequences, the inspector advised the im-
mediate removal of the population. In thisinstance
there was no local means of providing houses of refuge ;
but the Board of Ordnance, on the application of the
General Board of Health, kindly granted the use of
tents, in which 360 of the population were accommo-
dated. Besides these, upwards of 600 people left the
locality, and dispersed themselves elsewhere. Amongst
the people drafted into the tents not a single case of
cholera occurred, whilst 126 additional cases took place
amongst the population which remained in the houses.
There were no means of obtaining accurate information
as to the 600 of the population dispersed, but it was
reported generally that they experienced similar immu-
nity. Another consequence of this great thinning of
the population, amounting to the withdrawal of nearly
one-half of the whole inhabitants, was that the fatality
was diminished in a greater ratio among those who
were left.

Tents were supplied by the Board of Ordnance in
several other instances, at the request of the General
Board of Health, with similar beneficial results.

Application has accordingly been made, on Mr.
Grainger's representation, to the War-office and the
Board of Ordnance. The latter board have promptly
sent the order for the immediate despatch of 200 tents,
and the former office promise the aid and. co-operation
of an experienced officer.
The directions and regulations of the General Board
Health, under the order in Council, are prepared, and
will be printed for issue by to-morrow.
In reply to objections expressing apprehensions from
being tented out during this weather, it was stated that
at Chobham, during excessively wet weather, the sick-
ness amongst the troops was less than usual in barracks,
and that, on occasions of epidemic, troops had been re-
moved from barracks to tents always with great advan-
tage, where the site of the tents was good.
The following is from Newcastle yesterday at noon :
—We have the finest morning that we have had during
i the week past. The atmosphere is clear, and a fine
1 breeze is sweeping the town from the west. The deaths,
it will be seen, ran up to 110 on Saturday evening, the
cases having been very sudden and violent during the

afternoon. -Tents are -being erected on the Town Moor
this morning, to which people from infected districts
will be removed. The church-yard of All Saints', St.
Andrew's, St. Nicholas, and St. John's, have been
closed by the churchwardens, the necessity of which
may be appreciated from the fact that in St. John's
yard, in Cie midst of a populous neighbourhood, during
last week a grave was made 23 inches deep to contain a
coffin 22 inches high. St. Ann's, Jesmond Cemetery,
St. Paul's, and Westgate Cemetery are open. The
guardians have appointed two additional gravediggers
to each of the three first-named places, so that the poor
may be interred in decency. Dr. Gavin has been sent
down by the Board of Health to relieve Mr. Grainger.
Dr. Gavin was to visit the infected districts this morn-
ing, to close those dwellings which he considers unfit for
human habitation. The following are the deaths in each
district during the past two days :

SATURDAY.
Cholera. Diarrhoea. Total.
All Saints' 23 3 26
St. Nicholas' 32 1 33
St. Andrew's
Byker l2 1 13
Westgate

101 9
SUNDAY.
Cholara. Diarrhoea.
All Saints' 29 1
St. Nicholas' l4 2
Westgate 26 4
St. Andrew's l5 0
Byker 9 0

Total.
30
16
30
15

93 7 100
GATESHEAD (YESTERDAY FORENOON).
The epidemic, it is hoped, has exhausted its virulence
here. On Saturday Mr. Pattison registered 31 deaths ;
19 yesterday ; and to-day, down to about half-past 11
o'clock, 14 deaths.
SHIELDS (YESTERDAY FORENOON).
There has been one fatal case at South Shields this
morning. A little boy, aged six years, was taken out of
St. Stephen's Church last evening, during divine service,
and died during the night. A seaman belonging to the
Amagis, of Harwich, died after 14 hours' illness, in the
vessel, in South Shields harbour, on Saturday night ; his
name is Jonathan Lord. Another seaman was ill, but
he has recovered. The vessel was brought down from
Newcastle. Under the Common Lodging-house Act,
the inspector in South Shields has reduced the inmates
' one-half in those he thought thoroughly clean. He
closed two others. The process of washing the back
lanes and alleys with thousands of tons of salt water
from the Tyne is being proceeded with : a large force o`
men are engaged with the river engine for the purpose.
About a score of men are also engaged whitewashing
I am happy to say that the poor people are heartily as
sisting them.