The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-21 00:00:00

THE CHOLERA.

(Prom the General Board of Health, Oct. 20.)
SEVENOAKS ONION (VESTEBHA.II), Oct. 18.
Deaths.
Diarrhcea
GLOUCESTER, Oct. 18. _

Cholera
NEWCASTLE, Oct. 19

Cholera
The total number of deaths from cholera and diarhcea
in Newcastle, during the present outbreak, has been
1,517. In the same period (viz., the first 49 days),
during the prevalence of epidemic cholera, in 1831-2,
the number of deaths was 291.
GATESHEAD, Oct. 13.

Deaths.

Cholera
N- death' Gateshead

3
'esterday

.o deaths were registered in ,Atest,
19th inst.) from either cholera or diarrhoea.

BEDLINGTON.
It may be remembered that much alarm was created in
this town on the re-appearance of cholera in the haunts
in which it first broke out, and which it chiefly ravaged in
its former visitation. The houses in Bedlington are de-
scribed as excessively damp from the want of drainage.
The ground adjacent to the houses, as well as that of
the roads and footways, appears to be unusually moist,
and,
and the privies, where they exist, are in a most abomi-
nable condition. This town is in the Morpeth district,
and the Public Health Act was applied to it at the
same time as to Morpeth. In Morpeth the provisions
of the act had been promptly and ably applied on the
plan of carrying a constant supply of soft spring water
into every cottage, without the intervention of reser-
voirs,or water-butts, with their pollutions and
expen tanks,ses, o abolishing cesspools, and of substituting
universally the water-closet apparatus, drained by self-
cleansing tubular pipes, conducted in self-cleansing tu-
bular sewers. But the members elected to represent
Bedlington would not consent to the commencement of
any works until they saw the effect of the new works
at Morpeth. At last, however, they have decided on
the adoption of similar works, but these cannot be begun
until next spring, and of course their means of prepara-
tion against the impending danger cannot be expected to
be so forward and efficient as at Morpeth. In the course
of examination of plans for combined and permanent
works of drainage, sewage and water supply, Mr. Aus-
tin, the consulting engineer of the General Board of
Health, has recently visited the towns of Darlington,
Hull, and Castleford, and during his inquiries inspected
some of the worst places in these towns.

DARLINGTON.
In this town active measures were found to have been
adopted by the local board in clearing away nuisances,
and in cleansing and lime whiting. Partial works of
public drainage have been carried out. The plans for
complete works are in progress ; during their execu-
tion it is hoped that better arrangements will be
made for the general supply of water, in order that
the middens and cesspools may be permanently re•
moved. In the meantime, the town
will appears to have
been placed in a condition as satifactory as pre-
sent circumstances The authorities ex-
perienced a difficulty in dealing with the nuisance of pigs
kept in close parts of the town, and suggested that in
any future amendment of the act it should be made
unlawful to
.keep pigs at all within a prescribed distance
of any dwelling-house. It has been already stated that
the local authorities have decided on exercising the
powers they possess under the orders of the General
Board of Health, for the banishment of pigs from the
town. The deaths recorded from cholera and diarrhoea
prove that the epidemic influence has been actively pre-
sent in Darlington, but the energetic measures adopted
have apparently kept the pestilence in check.

HIILL,
It was gratifying to find that in this town, also, works
of cleansing had been carried on with energy under the
direction of the local board, and that the worst courts
and streets were in as good a state as it seemed practi-
cable to place them, temporarily pending the execution
of the proposed permanent works of improvement. Be-
neath a great portion of the town of Hull there extends
a system of flat brick sewers, which, under present ar-
rangements, constantly accumulate foul deposit. During
the last twelvemonth the local board have turned their
attention to clearing out these receptacles of filth. Up-
wards of 10,000 cubic yards of foul matter aro estimated
to have been removed, by hand labour and cartage, from
about 10 miles of sewer, Of course, until the structural
defects are remedied by the new works, this deposit will
still go on ; but in the meantime the local board have
done a work in removing this vast amount of poisonous
matter from the midst of the population. Measures are
in progress for ventilating these sewers wherever prac-
ticable, and for trapping the gullies. The local autho-
rities both of Darlington and Hull appear to have availed
themselves, with vigilance and ability, of the means in
their power to meet the threatened attack.