The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-31 00:00:00

AND PROS ri UTION.

Mr. SPOONER then proceeded to ask leave to intro.
duce the Bill of which he had given notice for the ►or
pression of the trading in seduction, and for the betterfi
protection of females. He eould assure them that he felt
great difficulty in bringing the question under the
notice of the House, as he was persuaded he could 0,...0;
do it that justice it deserved. He would have been better
satisfied had the measure been placed in abler hal
and if the Members of the Government opposite
taken it under their protection. There existed ill lm°
metropolis an association—
Mr. GRANTLEY BERKELEY—Sir, I rise to
point of order. The Hon. Member, to make good hi!
case, must bring before the House matters and details
which are altogether unfit fur publication. I therefore
call the attention of the House to the fact that there all
strangers in both galleries.
The galleries were then cleared, and the debate Po'
ceeded with closed doors.

HEALTH OF TOWNS BILL.
On our re-admission to the gallery of the House, We
found
Lord MORPETH moving for leave to bring in & Dill
for the establishing regulations for the improvement Of
the health of towns. This he observed was no new su'r
•ject, for it had been repeatedly brought under the net°
of the legislature, and more especially of late by the i'°
ports of Dr. Arnott, early in 1838 ; again, in January'
1839, by -a report of Dr. Southwood Smith ; again. 1°
August, 1839, a general report was made to the House
by commissioners engaged to investigate the state of the
country ; in January, 1840, a return had been made
under the commission authorised by the Marquis of
Normanby ; again, in 1842, there was a report of we
general sanatory condition of Great Britain ; again, there
were similar reports in 1843, 1844, 1845, and again
there was a second report made by the commissioners'
In 1845 the Earl of Lincoln had presented a report 1
0
the House on the state of health in towns, and from this
report he would read a summary, so that the House
might see that an amount of labour had been expended
on this subject, and who had contributed to furnish expend
facts on which he desired that they should legislate. Be
was the more desirous that this should be made kneel
to the House, as by that it would be perceived that be
had been no piny to the accumulation of these feet*
but that he was come in, as he trusted, at the last hour,
to the accomplishment of an important object, though P,
was not the party entitled to the credit of its achieve,
ment. He would place before the House the ell-cal,
stances which, whether they were viewed in their
political, social, or statistical aspect, were worthy of 010
gravest consideration. But in doing this he should °llill
take the primary features, and reserve the details Ss,
some future opportunity, but he felt that P
could not do anything like justice to the subject, or Pr°;,i
perly lay this matter beiore the Legislature, witb°l,-0
stating some of the evils which had resulted front t'• 0
neglect of the octant measure which he bad 110 to
introduce. lie was quite aware that there were sclait,
persons in that House with whom he was not so
nate as to egret that it was not the duty of the Legls,he
tore to take any steps for directing or improving lb°
public mind. But if there was any question on the
subject of educati, n, there could be none upon their,
ject that it was the bounden duty of the Legislatusel:i
overlook, ,uperintend, and provide for those physical 2.ch
extern ,1 necessities, under any circumstances, riblof
might materially affact the health and the happinelot
a people ; nor did he feel that there was anything
could justify their dispensing with attention in this W
to the welfare of the people, or that would exonerate tbee,
from bringing these matters forward ; nor should herd,
frain from doing so with all the powers he could coralo'o
He found by the statement of Mr. Guy—the gentle 0,
who had been appointed to make a report of the 0,0,
parative health of town and country districts, and lets
for his extensive hospital practice, had a most enrePs'esa
knowledge of the subject to which his attention wo,
been directed—he found by the statement of that geol.
tleman to the Rsgistrar General, that in the stud
districts, where the population only have the propertsloo
0f)99 to the square mile, the number of deaths was 19' 0-
in a million, while in the town districts, where the elbi
lation was .5,108 to the square mile, the number of desks,
amounted to 27,900; thus showing an excess in Prlie7-1,
of upwards of 8,000 deaths that might have been 111124°5g,
The rate of mortality in country districts was 1 in his
while in towns it was lin 37. He was aware that t,OB
might be said to be the case of particular places; u 0
the present rate of mortality throughout England '
1 in 45; while in the Isle of Wight it was 1 in MI of
in the Isle of Anglesea in was 1 in 62; but in Lesilo
instead of being 1 in 58, or 1 in 62, it was 1 in 39.,, it
Leeds and Birmingham it was 1 in 37; in Sheffieluo
was 1 in 33; in Bristol 1 in 32; in Manchester 1 In
and in Liverpool, which he regretted to perceives
joyed a bad pre-eminence, instead of being 1 is 59
62, as it was in the healthy islands to whichahe b
referred, it was lin 29. So that it followed, that 10
this capital the greater number of inhabitants, as e.°111;
pared with the rest of England, were deprived of ad,
years of their lives, and in Liverpool they were, see°lol
big to this statement, deprived of nineteen years to,
existence. The population of the great towns is code
puted at 4,000,000, so that the loss of life througlinnts'oo
whole of the country was not less than 31,000 or 32n to
annually. But all towns did not exhibit the same r.„,0
as Liverpool. The average loss of life in that town .7 is
about 38 in a thousand per annum. In Manchester Igkind
32 in a thousand ; in Carlisle it is 32 ; in Halifal, to
Kidderminster it is 21 in a thousand. If he turtle°, 1,7
the mortality of the counties be found the same role 0f
hold, for among the Cornish miners and in some Perto
Wiltshire the average is 1 in 49 ; while the In9rt tee
a Lancashire is as high a; lin 36. In Lanatishireoo
general age at death was 22, and in Wiltshire 35; „ct iS
general average of consumption throughout Engl,,e-ter
105 lbs. of butcher's meat, while in Yens-„per
the aggregate amount is only 201bs. for each perll°-sstis
annum. In manufacturing towns, the deaths from P,lOO,
cular diseases was 1 in 13 of the general popurill';iog
while in the country it is only 1 in 54. 11:1i:stet
the prevalence of the cholera, the deaths in Mane% 50f
daily were 343, while in the country the number vetiati.
so that no less than 4,700 lives would have been %on
had the improvements devised by the Government lett,
brought into play. The whole result of these ,eslo.
latiuns was, that the average of deaths in Great or! the
was 46 in 1,000 in the country, and 54 in 1,000 leo
towns, showing that not less than 14,949 lives had or
sacrificed by the want of these sanatory regulationstos
one-s, ven:h of the whole number of deaths thataien.
occurred in the country. This was Mr. Guy's OPI7OO.
Nor was Dr. Southwood Smith less explicit in the stote
went of his opinion, expressing his belief in the %eel
meat which he had made to the Registrar-Ge"Abad
that the whole of the evils endured were to beeles-seas
to bad sewerage, the want of water, the want es,'
sad
vengers, and the consequent accumulation of 0,1"(Osto
the generation of pestiferous miasma. They mige_,Pisis•
some idea of the evil which the Sewerage &Soot
stoners had been unable to remedy, that in the 'lle°
districts, out of 16,000 cases of fever, upwards 0; nee
out of every 200 had been occasioned by the pre/al-tee
of the causes which he had stated : and throughliost
country not less than 700,000 unnecessary cases cO-000
had occurred from this cause, and not less than 'abrar'
deaths. According to the regulation of the liegl'h" see
General, the whole of the country was divided irate. she
provinces, with ten districts in each, to aseert?'l-ists.
rate of mortality. In ten of the healthiest distr„,,o
where the quantity of ground allowed to each persoh ^49,
202 square yards, the annual rate of mortality is lit° of
In ten of the medium districts where the Vat° Ire of
ground for each person is 102 square yards, the ra one
mortality is l in 41, and in the worst districts it is sal
in 36. The Rev. Mr. Kay, of Preston, who hadifel-rai
great attention to this subject, had divided the 6e 00
districts into four classes, and he found that, 1n
healthiest districts the annual average of deaths is
100; in the bad districts it is 38 in 100;
districts it is 44 in 100. In the parish of St. Gelid'
Hanover-square, the annual average period at 00%
those in the upper classes die, is 45 yews, whilel 27
the labouring classes the average period of death rifle
years. In St. Giles's, and tho neighbouring es,4od
the usual term of life among those connboss'or
with the gentry is 40, while among the 111„„001,
mg classes it is only 17 years. In LlT°'`per
the usual average period of death, amon the
is
classes, is 35, while among the poorer inhabitantwhole
only 15 years. For the sake of convenience, thew, Bea
of the country is divided into 103 districts by t but
and fa the ss
gistrar-General, and it appeared by the last rer rip%
one, that 43,582 deaths were registered in tile 1553
quarter ending June 30—a number greater by ter' of
than were registered in the corresponding quaroB44.
1845 ; and 4,731 more than in the June quarter new fa
If the mortality bad not been higher in the tewne„...._` she
the poor country districts where the air is Pu'ooo.
deaths in the quarter would not have exceeded San de'
Within the last three months 10,000 lives have, bee
h there 1s
stroyed in a part only of England, by causes which 1940, it
every reason to believe might be removed. In ijilne, of the
appeared from the reports, that from the deficiencL..ooo
drainage of the ground areas, there was a eonetwnt aluu sat
of malaria and volatile poisons arising from the stas,llgniseditches which surrounded London as other toseilothe
surrounded by walls. In Sheffield and Liverpo 1.059,
number of deaths was one-third more from this f rip
than it was in London, and the mortality te'r„ b
piclly increasing. The deaths had increased, urz7oble
the previous year in 1845 by 14 per cent. The
Lord then went through a series of statement
o
ad occ
ewnßouorulurnsiltbdtorelyro,
tsyloi vdbe
seer
hap
otaol
w'os
(11,
rwt
yhaheni cddhe
excess,t tahhi othereu rmre
repetitionesi isdi
s figurelee' oule fi n llfa e 66:f 112. us.Frid
al/
l of a
of
the result of which was to show that the increese saswh
This was no.
hs(a(inht.tomliosuunfft
etroedmionreprtehvai
onu
sdo
euabrl
se. the mortality'
not
obe
wondered at when the nature of the summer schlep we
had had was taken into consideration, and the state_f.,
the crowded lanes and dirty streets, which .were
stantly throwing out a mass of poisonous muismatrer
there was little doubt that if we were to have a BUTP°.t.
like the last, that this mortality would be (PP"

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