The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-10 00:00:00

THE RECENT FATAL ACCIDENT IN 13ELL-ALLEY.

The following letter was then read by Mr. DAWg :-
" Sir,—At an inquest held by me at St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, on the sth instant, on the !miles of the parties
who were killed by the falling of the house, No. 9, Little
Swan-alley, Coleman-street, in the City of London, at
which inquest Mr. Deputy Hale was present, the jury, of
which Mr. Perkins, a member of the Common Council, was
the foreman, returned a verdict of accidental death, and
accompanied their verdict with the following recommen-
dation :--‘ That the jary earnestly recommend to the Com-
missioners of Sewers that they would authorise a special
survey forthwith to be made of all buildings in the City
of London that, from age or other cause, may be supposed
to be out of substantial repair'
" In compliance with the wish of the jury, I have the
honour to hand you a copy of such recommendation, and
to remain, sir, your faithful servant.,

(Signed)

" Wm. JNo. PAYNE,
Deputy Coroner of London.
" To the Chairman of the Commissioners of Sewers."

Mr. ABRAHAM moved that i'. be referred to the General
Purposes Committee to inquire into the cause of the
falling of the house in Litt'e Swan-alley, and al.o into
the working of the present system of house inspection,
with especial reference to dangerous structure■ ;' and
also whether it is necessary to make any, and what
alteration in the system, and to report thereon to this
Commission.

Mr. Ross thought it would be well to refer the matter,
inasmuch as it would afford them an opportunity of in-
quiring into the system of inspection, and making fur-
ther regulations, if necessary, In reference the.reto. If
the law was not sufficient to enable the inspectors to
discover the ruinous buildings, they ought to have such

powers.
Deputy HALE conceived the inspectors of the com-
mission had power to go into any house at any time.
They were required to use their eyes, and to look abc.ut
them, even at the risk of their lives, so that they might
see whether the internal parts of buildings were such as
to require repair; and they would then be able to go to
the district surveyor and report all a 311 cases.

Mr. T. H. HAIL remarked that it was a difficult mat.
ter to adopt the recommendation contained in t'e mo•
Lion, for if they did so the result would be that several
hundred houses in the City of London, held .by,poor
widows, would be condemned, and the poor creatures
who held their all in them would lose their little in-
comes and be forced to take refuge in the poor-house or
some other eleemosynary asylum.

Mr. HAYWOOD (the engineer) remarked that it was
the duty of the Inspectors to call the atttatien of the
district surveyors to any building which appeared to them
to be dangerous. It was part of their duty, and they
knew it.

Deputy LOTT—Was it done in this case ?
Mr. HAYWOOD—It was not ; but it was no less the
fact that a house might not give any external appearance
of danger, and yet the wood work might be rotten, and
the fabric consequently prove insecure. He had'not
any doubt whatever but that such was the case in thi
instance before them, which had, unfortunately, been
attended with such lamentable results, as the 'internal
timbers had given way, the walls had collapsed, and the
building had become a total ruin. He felt it further to
be his duty to inform the commissioners that before a
professional man could give his opinion it would be
necessary for an order to be given for the timbers to be
stripped—to strip the house—and, in fact, to half gut
it before they could ascertain the place in which the de.
feet lay.
The proposition was then carried.
MEDICAL OFFICER'S REPOSTI,

The following is the repurt of tho medical officer of
health as to the sanitary condition of the city :
"To the Hon. Commissioners of Sewers of the City of

London.

" Gentlemen,—The inspector's returns relate to 329
houses that have been visited since the last meeting of the
court ; and I beg to submit a list of places that rognit •
your orders for their sanitary improvement in various par.
ii:
especially of water supply and drainage. •
culla'rhB4 mortality returns for the city during the last six
weeks have been greatly below the average, the total nuno
ber of deaths having been 307, insteadofp3:riod of
372, which is the
mean death rate for the correspondingthe last
seven years. The principal mortality has been amongehil-
dren under five years of age, of whom 145 have died since
you last met. This constitutes about 47 per cent., or
nearly ono-half of the whole number of deaths. Among
the causes of death are the following : —Consumption, or
tubercular diseases, 63 diarrhoea, dysentery, and pneu-
monia of children, 50 • hydrocephalus and convulsions of
infancy, 21 ; scarlet ?aver, 17 ' • violence and privation,
17 ; measles and hooping-cough, 16 ; and fever, 14. Be-
sides which there have been 2 fatal cases of emallpox, 7 of
diarrhoea and dysentery among adults, and 100 from dis-
eases of a chronic character.
" 1 have the honour to remain, your obedient
" lIV. LETHEBT, M,B,

" Guildhall, Sept. 9,1856."
Thu Coluruinion thee broke up.