The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-24 00:00:00

TO THE HON. THE COMMISSIONERS OF SEWERS.

" City Polie-office' Old Jewry, Oct. 22, 1849.
" Gentlemen,—The period of three months, for which
you requested the special services of the city police
having expired, it cannot fail to be acceptable to your
tfonourable Board and the public to receive,:as it is gra-
tifying to me and dee to the force to give, a report upon
the nature and extent of the duties vrhiah " have been
performed; a knowledge of which is the more desirable,
as it renders to all parties; engaged their _appropriate
measure of usefulness, and presents at the same time the
surest guide to the fittest agencies by which the great
objects committed to your charge can be best car-
ried out.
" It will be in the recollection of the Court that on the
19th of June last your medical officer, Mr. Simon, re-
ported his belief that an extensive attack of cholera
was impending,' and his conviction' that the existing
state of inspection could not, by any possibility, perform
the immense amount of duty at the existing crisis,' and
suggested that it would not be possible to do better than
obtain the cooperation of a section of the police force.
It will be further in your recollection that I subsequently
attended your deliberations upon this subject; when I
ventured to repeat the substance of various recommen-
dations which I had previously submitted to your Hon.
Court, delineating the beat mode by which I considered
the service of the police could be at a trifling cost made
permanently effective in carrying out the various and
important objects contemplated by the Sewers Act.
"My conviction so expressed has been greatly
strengthened by the experience of our exertions and the
character and extent of the information we have supplied
during the last three months, and which I shall now
proceed to detail.
"By the returns which accompany this communica-
tion, it will appear that the sergeants of the force who
were selected for this duty reported upon the condition
of 15,010 houses in the following several respects:—
" 12,878 houses were reported as generally clean in
appearance, but in many instances were fouud, upon close
examination, to require special notice for one or more
of the following nuisances:—
" 2,132 required whitewashing or other cleansing, on
account of general dirtiness.
" 2,524 had offensive smells, from bad drainage and
other causes.
" 720 had filth or rubbish in the cellar.

" 106 had stagnant water on the premises.
" 51 were found offensive, from the deficiency of dust-
bins, and the necessary accommodation for refuse.
" 446 were found in an offensive and unhealthy state,
from bad or deficient drainage.

" 154 were found in much need of water, or used water
deteriorated by improper receptacles.
" 109 presented the necessity of having their dustbins
immediately cleared.
" 148 presented nuisances of various descriptions un-
favourable to health, not previously described.
" 13,020 houses had privies and water-closets free
from nuisance.

'• 1,120 had privies and water•closets in a very offen'
sivo state.

"4,608 had their privies in the cellars.
" 4,389 had their privies in passages and other parts of
the houses.

" 4.991 had their privies in yards and outer premises.
" 152 privies were used in common by more than one
house.

" 223 cesspools were found full of soil.
" 30 had burst or had overflowed.
" 21 cellars were used as cesspools.
" 40 drains were found to be choked with soil.

The above reports hare reference to the internal
state of houses. I shall now detail the number and
nature of out-door nuisances.

" 103 reports have been made by the police of stinks
from the drains, gratings, &C.
" 92 of stagnant water iu the streets or out door pre-
mises.
" 16 of accumulateddeposits of offal, decayed iegetable,
or other offensive matter in yards, wharfs, &c.
" 36 of unwholesome trades, manufactures, or other
operations.
" 28 of urinals, or places used as such by the public,
in an offensive state. . .

"32 of dung and dust-heaps offQnsive to their neigh-
bourhoods.

" 51 of common privies complained of as nuisances.
" 8 of various nuisances not particularly defined.
"In addition to these representations upon internal
and external circumstances, 952 cases of actual cholera
have been ascertained through the information of the
medical attendants and reported in the daily returns, of
which number 6351 have proved fatal, 286 have recovered,
and 31 are still under treatment, or the result is not
ascertained, the sufferers having been removed to the
country.
" Such, gentlemen, have been the labours of the police,
effected for the most part in a few days, and all within
the prescibed period of three mouths, and that at the
trifling cost of 100/.
"It will be obvious to your Honourable Court that the
extreme urgency of the inquiry imparted to it the
character of haste, and precluded that minute search
and persevering investigation which under other and
ordinary circumstances would be desirable, while our
anxiety to obtain information in neighbourhoods most
exposed to disease precluded inquiries into more favoured
localities, but which, upon other occasions, ought not to
be overlooked.

" What may bo the course your ion. Court, upon
mature deliberation, may decide hereafter to pursue, to
accomplish the important objects of your appointment,
is would be presumptuons in me to predicate; but I trust
that the suggestion of ten years' experience, respectfully
submitted by one filling the responsible office of Com-
missioner of Police in Phis great city, and for the most
part residing within its walls, and in daily superintend-
ence of the manifold objects which affect the peace, the
safety, the health, and the comfort of this vast coin
munity, will not be considered as unacceptable or un-
worthy of your attention; and in so doing I feel it duo
to the medical practitioners within the City, with scarcely
an excepri t) acknowledge the: rcadiue,s and courtesy
with which upon all occasions they have given informa-
tion to our officers; at the same time I anticipate the
satisfaction it will give to your Hon. Court to hear that
our inquiries have been uniformly received with grati-
tude, and cheerfully aided by all classes of the ommunity,
"It will be obvious to your Hon. Court that the main
objects of your commission are—first, to ascertain, as
perfectly as possible the fullest and most minute infor-
mation upon all matters which can in any way affect the
health or comfort of the inhabitants, and of persons
frequenting the City; next to be satisfied, by frequent
reports, that whatever is suggested to be done, is well
and promptly done; and lastly, that the information of
what is required and performed should be obtained in
the most efficient and least expensive way.
" Now, I venture to think that, for obvious reasons,
there is no agency by which these objects can be so
effectually accomplished as by that of the police force.
The police is a recognized authority, to which applica-
tion can be made without annoyance or loss of time;
whose services can be rendered without intrusion, and of
whose neglect complaint may be legitimately made and
redress promptly obtained. It comes within our expe-
rience to know that serious inconveniences are tolerated
from an indisposition to incur personal reproach, or the
trouble that individual interference imposes, but which
would be promptly brought under the notice of the
police if their services in this respect were publicly an-
nounced in relation to these matters, and many other
such as are detailed in the accompanying returns.
Secondly, it will be admitted, that next to the know-
-1 ledge of an evil is the evidence of its speedy removal.
" Now, though we have reported upon many hundreds
of cases, essu,ning different degrees of nuisance, to
which there can be no doubt the ready attention of your
Honourable Court has been given, yet there i 3 no
channel so prompt and disinterested through which to
ascertain that your directions have been effectually
enforced, as that by which the original information is
given, for the parties through whom nuisances are re-
ported and their suppression ascertained are not the
fittest to execute the orders of your Honourable Board.
It should also be borne in mind that when actual
nuisances are reported, and their removal satisfactorily
attested, such reports can only have reference to things
as they exist at the time, and that to effectually main-
tain a perfect system of sanitary authority, the super-
vision of which I speak should be vigilant and continuous.
To relax is to retrograde; to delay is to parley with
disease and death; and by what means, permit Inc re-
spectfully to inquire, can such an amount of aid be so
effectually and so economically secured as through the
agency of the police?