The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-20 00:00:00

Pm. OZ.

SANITARY REFORM.
Last night a public meeting on thissubi:vacta,hcealldleind
b y the National Philanthropic Associat.n
'she Hanover-square Rooms. The advertisement stated
that the chair was to be taken at half-past seven
o'clock ; but it was eight before the members ofthe
association and their friends made their appearance
on the platfrom. At that time the meeting was very
thin, but it gradually increased, till the room was
Mr.
about half full. On the motion of Cochrane,
Mr. Waklev, M.P., was called to the chair. Among
the gentlemen on the platform, we observed Mr.
Wyld, M.P., Sir C. kldis, Mr. G. A. Walker, Dr..
Scott Alison, Dr. C. T. Aldis, Dr. HecfOr Gavin,
Rev. Mr. Mangin, Mr. John Randolph, &c.
I.:Che CHAIRMAN said it was with great pleasure he
occupied the chair on that occasion, because he felt it
was a meeting assembled for a very useful purpose.
It was not a matter of speculation or of theory
which engaged their attention ; they were met to
consider the best mode of removing practical evils
which pressed heavily upon a large portion of the
population.—(Hear, hear.) If it had been a mere
speculative matter, he should have had no desire to be
there, for he always wished to employ his exertions
in removing grievances of acknowledged existence
and of a pressing kind.—(Hear, hear.) The subject
of sanitary reform appeared at first sight to be a very
minute and narrow subject. It appeared to be et
matter of mere defective sewage and drainage of dirty
streets and dirty houses ; but the fact was it was a
very large question indeed, and was intimately con-
cerned cerned with the social condition of the people.
involved to an immense extent the happiness of mil-
lions of the most useful, because the most industrious
portion of our fellow-countrymen.—(Cheers.) For
his own part if he did not believe that sanitary reform
would improve the condition of the working ci asse,
generally, if he did not believe it would improve the
condition of their dinner-tables, he would care very
little about it.--(Applause.) His desire was to see
the hard-working artizan well fed, well housed, and
well clothed; be wanted to see him do less work and
-receive higher pay, and it was because he believed
that sanitary reform would lead to this improved state
of things that he wished to see every reformer in the
kingdom taking a deep interest in the question. The
object of the National Philanthropic Association
in calling that meeting was to endeavour to induce
the public to assist Government in carrying
into effect a really effective measure of sanitary
reform. The Government had many obstacles
to contend against on this question in the shape
of vested interests and otherwise. Whole masses of
people were suffered to linger in misery, because cer-
tain aldermen would not willingly lose a single basin
of soup in the year.—(Laughter.) The fact was,
that the people who raised the cry of " vested in-
terests" were generally persons in possession of the
elective franchise, and hence the Government were
induced to be more gentle with them than they ought
to be. It should be the duty of the public, therefore,
to tell the Government not to be afraid to do what
was necessary for the welfare of the community, in
spite of vested interests ; and if they saw the Govern-
ment coming forward with a just and comprehensive
measure to remove the evil, to raise their voices as one
man in its support.—(Hear, hear.) The Government
should pay no attention to the opposition of the
aldermen of the city 'of London—who seemed to
like to live among dirt—who appeared as fond of dirt
as they were of turtle.—(Laughter.) The question
was one which affected the whole country, and no ,
local authority should be allowed to rise up and !
say that their interest should not be interfered
with. The present condition of society was
actually deplorable, owing to the want of proper
sanitary regulations. The loss of life which occurred
in consequence was incalculable. It had been esti-
mated that 30, 40, or even 50 per cent. of hurnat
beings were annually sacrificed from this cause. It,
the performance of his painful duties, he was a
daily witness of the misery which was occasioned
amongst the poor in this vast metropolis from want
of sanitaryregulations. lie frequently found from 5
to 12 persons living in a single room not more than 12
feet or 14 feet square, with hardly any accommodatior
suited to human beings. In such abodes of misery
there might be seen two or three in one corner,
huddled under a rug, labouring under one disease.
In another corner other two three might be seer.
lying under a sack, or resting upon straw, suffering
from a different disease, while in another part of th(
same room there might be a corpse in a state of
decomposition ; and yet of all this the possessors of
wealth i'a the immediate neighbourhood were quit(
ignorant until the disease which originated in those
miserable abodes had extended to their own families.
when they then found it necessary to institute
an inquiry into the cause of the evil ; but until them,
they seldom thought of instituting a single investiga-
tion with a view of mitigating the misery of the poor
in their neighbourhood, or of preventing its recur
rence.—(blear, hear.) Several benevolent persom
he was happy to say, had long applied their minds to
this subject, and had acted as pioneers in the goof':
cause ;:and to:these the thanks.:of the public were:espe-
cially due. Amongst these there were two gentlernee
then on the platform who deserved honourable men
*ion. lie alluded to Mr. Cochrane and Mr. G. A
Walker.—(lear.) He knew very well that a great
deal had been done on the agitation of this question:
by a body he very much disliked,—he meant she Poor-
law Commissioners. The members of that Commis-
sion had discovered that everything affected burner.
life and human comfort except low diet,—that disa-
greeable smells and unfavourable drainage were exceed
ingly detrimental to a man's constitution ; but that if he
WaS fed threeitime3 a day on water-gruel he would not
suffer at all.—(Laughter.) Ile (Mr. Waklev)
rot agree with the discovery of the Somerset-hous(
officials. His opinion was that the sanitary reform
would he a farce, a delusion, a mockery, if it did no:
lead to an improvement of the condition of the people
generally, not only with regard to their physical state,
bat with regard to their social:and moral state as well.
—(Hear, hear.) IVas the present'condition of the
working classes one that:ought to last ? It was not.
Let any one pass through Regent-street, in the im •
mediate neighbourhood of that meeting, and see the
splendid shops in that locality, with the wenderfu,
displays of ingenuity which the windows exhibited.
Where were the makers of these goods ?—(Hear,
hear.) In cellars, in garrets, in holes and corners, or
places absolutely not fit for the occupation of human
beings. To witness those things, and to be indiffe-
rent to them, was a state of thini,s in the highes'
degree discreditable to society. Ife called upon the
meeting, therefore, to stimulate the Legislature to de,
something towards its removal.
Letters of apology for absence were read from the
following Members of Parliament : Lord John
Russell, Lord Ebrington, Lord Dudley Stuart, Mr.
Osborne, Dr. Bowring, Mr. Mackinnon, and Mr. G.
Thompson.
Mr. COCHRANE was then requested to move the
first resolution. Ile commenced by congratulating
the meeting on having secured the services of a
chairman who had such a practical and thorough
knowledge of the present question. He was the more
induced to congratulate them on that point when he
remembered the meeting which took place in thai
room some weeks ago, under the auspices of the Health
of Towns Association, when arguments were used on
the subject of a very peculiar kind, which evidently
showed that the parties were very little acquainted
with
public oninion.—( Hear, hear.) The resolution
which he had requested to propose on the present
occasion was as
°
" That it has fora :series of years been clearly
demonstrated by commissions connected with the
legislative and Government departments, and power-
fully enforced by
practicaloci evidence from the National
Philanthropic
Association, and other benevolent so-
cieties instituted for
sufferspurpose to an alarming extent,
in a moral, physical, and peculiar point of view,
from the absence of an effecraceuel:aiT( for the protection
of public health ;—and these
ands areh peculiarly to
im effect
drainage,
bo traced to deficient sewage
pplv,perdfect scanty and dear water supply
ventilation
street-
cleansing, and a wretched construction
of the dwellings of the poorer classes, and
the impo.
sition of a tax on windows."
It had been calculated that between 50,000
and
60,000 unnecessary deaths took place annually in
consequence of deficient legislation in regard to sa.
nitary measures ; that between 1,500,000 and
2,000,000 sicknesses occurred from the same cause,
and that from 8,000,0001. to 14,000,0001. sterling
was lost in this way. The great: opposition to sani-
tary reform proceeded from the vestries and corrupt
municipalities throughout the country, and not
from the people at large—in proof of which he
referred to the opposition which had been of-
fered to the Bill of last session, especially to the
Original Bill, which embraced the city of London—
which the Ministry found they durst not proceed with,
except at the risk of Lord John Russell losing his
seat.—(Hear, hear.) He referred also at some length,
and with considereaebtlinewarmth, to what had occurred
at the vestry
mFriday. He congratulated of St. Martin's parish last
the meeting on the subject
having been taken u by the Bishop of London,
in his letter to the clergy,the Bishop of London,
andofthe London City
described his own
correspondence with the
Mission, detailing the efforts of theh National Phi-
lanthropic Association—its soup
kite
tory—to which he invited their inspectein and dormi-
tory—to
to the manner in which the poor weren: Referring
crowded in
their miserable dwellings, he statedgleher had seen
as many as fifteen living in a sin
that within a stone's-throw of Buckinghaio, and
nPalace,
o
which the Government architect, Mr. Blore, had
de-
clared not large enough to accommodate a family. i
contended that ignorance of the question, and oppo-
sition to plans of improvement, were not found
amongst the people ; the resistance was in the paro-
chial bodies, the vestries, and corrupt municipalities.
He approved the step of destroying the many boards
of sewer commissioners, and censured the exemption