The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-12 00:00:00

THE CHOLERA.

(From the General Board of Health.)
METROPOLIS.
la consequence of a memorial presented to the Genera
heat" h, a Health by the Health Committee of Black-
aident el elided over by Mr. John Flint South, late Pre-
Iseveral the Royal College of Surgeons, complaining of
*he h grievous but removable nuisances, endangering
f„, ealth
eOnclicof the inhabitants, and praying that the shame-
made t6-"`°n of certain parts of the village might be
many reo
terday subject of immediate inquiry, Dr. Milroy yes-
dition of Petted the districts. As an example of the con •
so
double"°rt for rne parts of this pleasant village, to which so
Title manor r)oer
air and health, it is stated that there is
of small houses, known by the name of
artinouth-Passage (the Earl of Dartmouth is the lord of
iirtheatsetreeoittr,
unOUgh which not a drop of water is supplied, al-
°nlY requires to have a pipe laid down along
obligedtoitclalfeei; being an abundant supply from the Kent
ethe village. The people are thus
tch very drop they use from a well at a
considerable distance ; and even for the use of this the
re required to
.pay a trifle. The back yards of thesey
houses are described as being in a mostabominable con-
dition, obviously impairing the halth ofatthetinhabitants.
Some of these places are so slopp
laid down for the inmates to alf:Y:n far boards are
door
to the filthy privy in the corners,while others are the
gustingly offensive that they cannot sit inslatTes °I) daeisk-
room. In one of these yards two cesspools, having
become quite full, were a week or two ago covered ovei
with earth, and a third one dug to receive the contents
of the privy.
The three are so close to each other that
the workman, while en
gaged in making the new one,
was nearly inundated by the contents of the others com-
ing in upon him.
Phcenix-vale is stated to have become a filthy bog,
from the foul water that is constantly thrown out upon
it having no kind of outlet or escape ; a long, wide,
shallow, stagnant ditch is represented as extending from
one end of Blackheath-vale to the other. This ditch or
pool receives all sorts of impurities, and after heavy
rains overflows into the gardens and basement storeys of
the houses, in which the water has for several weeks
stood a foot in depth. These are merely specimens of
numerous other localities in the village in which the
like impurities and causes of disease abound, to which
the immediate attention of the board of guardians of
Lewisham, in which parish it is situated, is urgently re-
quired. Nothing as yet appears to hav#been done.
Woolwich being out of the jurisdiction of the Metro-
politan Commissioners of Sewers, the inhabitants have
petitioned the General Board of Health for the applica-
tion of the Public Health Act, and a total board having
been obtained, they are now actively carrying into exe-
cution improved works of self-cleansing tubular house-
drains. The inhabitants of Charlton last week peti-
tioned the General Board to be brought within the juris-
diction of the Woolwich local board, and the attendance
of an engineering inspector has been directed to make
local inquiries, and promote arrangements in compliance
with the memorial.
- In the second report of the Metropolitan Sanitary
Commissioners, it was reported that marsh diseases pre-
vail at times among the agricultural population of the
Plumstead, Kent, and Essex marshes. In one of these
Marshes the proportions of open ditches stagnating and
giving off emanations from animal and vegetable de-
composition was stated to be 18a acres of ditch to 450
acres of land. After the wind has prevailed for some
time from these lands in the direction of dwelling-
houses, marsh diseases are constantly noticed among the
adjacent population. Sir Culling Eardley, the pro-
prietor of Belvidere and much of the Erith marsh land,
has represented to the General Board of Health his
Willingness to co-operate in any special measure having
la view the marsh drainage, so important to the metro-
polis. Another leading proprietor of Essex marsh land
has made similar representations.
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, Oct. 10.—Cholera, death 1.
The total number of deaths from cholera and diarrhoea
ia Neweastle•upon-Tyne during the present outbreak
has been 1,474. In the same period (viz., the first 40
1830 during the prevalence of epidemic cholera there in
1-2, the number of deaths was 270.
HARPENDEN, (ST. ALBAN'S), Oct. 10.—Cholera,
death, 1.
ITATPIELD (THORNE UNION), OCt. 10.—Cholera,
death, 1.

GATESHEAD, Oct. B.—Cholera, deaths, 6 ; 9th, 1.
Thr

. -
ne total number of deaths front cholera and diarrhoea
In Gateshead to the present date has been 402. During
the like period (viz, the the first 33 days) in 1831-2, the
deaths amounted to. 143.
Recent inquiries have shown, with reference to
towns which suffered severely during the former i
tations of cholera, that much improvement has been
v t 1 isai nt
ay
effected in the way of extensive cleausings, and in the
active removal of nuisances, while in severalconsider:
able progress has been made with combined and perma
tent works, for Morpeth and Alnwick, for example,
where great exertions have been made in the operation
of superficial cleansing, the works for drainage and
water supply are in an advanced state. In these in-
stances the water supply will be derived from collections
of soft water springs, the flow being constant, and the
water delivered direct to the consumers without the in-
tervention of reservoirs, and without the need of fil-
tration.
At Alnwick the supply of soft spring water will not
exceed the rate of 2d. in the 11., and cottages will be
supplied for Bd. per annum, or "1
-16th of a penny per
week. In both these towns the local boards have deter-
mined to abolish every cesspool in the place. The
water-closet apparatus, and the tubular house drains, in
substitution for the cesspool, are expected to ho laid
down for a rate not exceeding ld. per week per house
as
stihre the not
do not pay the expense themselves,
Berland been
ordered to be done by the Duke of Northum-
with his cottage property in Alewick, which
Carlisleocofnstitntes about a urth of the town, and by the Earl
with hireproprietors pro pert in M rpeth. Both these
have ordered theiry cott°ag-e property to be
save-spouted. The Duke of Northumberland has spent
the in drainin 12,000 acres of land, much of it in
the vicinity or the kwane, and greatly to its sanitary im-
provement.
jt, tage property connected has rebuilt nearly all the cot-
s'i, in the town, he his farms, and as to his
, Propertypoperly to drain evi!.yas
ry privy cgoi tvteang eerdweirtsh thethe sewers,
se
... I'A3 abolis'i ev ''
and cesspool, to substitute at
wloecras,i
~.. e the most approved water-closets and soilpans, and
54.= One • '
-,,5. • tb eena the bills for the same to his agent to be paid.