The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-28 00:00:00

sr. PANCRAS WORKHOUSE.

During the past month Dr. Bence Jones, accompanied
by ono of the inspectors under the Poor Law Board, ha:
been making a searching investigation into the conditiot;
of the above workhouse and the general treatment of th(
poor.
The ordinary meeting of the parish authorities was held
yesterday in the Courtliness, King's•road, Camden-town.
Mr. Henry Farren, F.S.A., senior churchwarden, in Lb,
chair. The following communication was read by Mr. C
Hibbard, the cle-k
" Poor Law Board, Whitehall, Feb. 25.
" Sir,—l am directed by the Poor Law Board to refer yoL
to their letter of the Ist of January, 1353, in which taey
informed. you that they had thought it necessary, limit)
the powers conferred upon them by the 10th anti 11,h
Victoria, chap. 109, sect. 22, and with the consent of thr
Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury to appor,
Dr. Bence Jones to act as an Inspector of Poor Laws for a
period of 30 days, for the purpose of conducting, a specia;
inquiry into the condition of the workhouse of the parish ei
St. Pancras' with reference mare particularly to the number
of persons that. the workhouse can properly accommodate
"Dr. Bence Jones, having compisted the necessary in
spections and investigations, has made his report to th,
Poor Law Boar.l, and, I am- directed to forward to you
for the directors of the poor, the six copies which accom-
pany this letter.

"I am directed to request the immediate attention of
the directors to the statements of the report, and to ex-
press the desire of the Poor Law Board that measures may,
without delay, be taken, calculated to remaly the seriou
evils adverted to in it.
"I am further to request that you will inform the Poor
Law Board of the proceedings which the directors tak, upoi,
the receipt cf this letter, and of the remedial measures which
they propose to adopt. " I am, Sir, &c.,
" COURTFNAY, Secretary-
" To the Clerk to the Directors of the Poor, St. Pancras ''
The report, which occupies 1.3 pages, descri 1,,,s the stat«
of the workhouse to be highly unsatisfactory. There are 3C{•
more in the house than there were in 184 G. The wards are

described as being offensive, and al in osiWiihoY;eniilaiion

ri four of the six principal wards there was a draught or
air from without, passing through the privy into the ward.
The medic il officer is reported to have stated that tlo
crowding of the wards accounted for the slowness of the
recovery of many patients. On one occasion 10 male pa-
tients and two women were lying on the floor. Mr. Carter,
the senior-surgeon, states that the ground-floor infirmary
had been so offensive that he considered that certain dis-
eases, ulcerative stomatitis and dysentery, causing death
in some cease, had resulted, and that in the boys' infirmar,
he (Hr. Carter) had been nauseated by the offensivenes,
proceeding from the ward. The total number of sick is s
groat that the infirmaries are incapable of containing them
and they are consequently put wherever room can be found
the result being great confusion. In the women's receiv
ing and casual ward as many as 80 and upwards slep.
nightly. In order to test the purity of the air, directions
were given that the windows were not to be opened. This
was disobeyed. the inmates declaring that if they had net
opened the windows they would have been stifled. Omit-
ting the children, the averaOe space was 164 cubic feet per
person. The air contained 1.11 per cent. of carbonic acid.
Beth the medical officers of the workhouse stated that the
offensiveness of their wards was excessive, and that fever
had been the result. Phillips, the nurse, had seen seve-
ral persons made ill by the foulness of the room, and sirs
herself had suffere I from it. The rooms were so crowded
that many had no beds or oven ticks to seep on. so they-
had to lie on the floor, the table, or forme. The occa-
sional ventilation in some of the wards, by opening the
windows, alone prevente I the inmates dying of suffocation.
In the men's casual ward it is reported by the surgeons that
ten men had passed the night lying naked as close as pos-
sible, on one of the pleeks. The stench in the night-nurses'
sleeping-room is described by Hrs. G,ae as terrible. Test-
ing the air, it was found to contain 2.75 per cent. of car-
bonic acid. In the ielent nursery Di. Jones found in bed
25 mothers and 30 childrsn. from 10 months to five week
old. The room was very offensive, and contained nearly 2
per cent. of c :rbouic acid. Dice race of the digestive orgae
and me enteric disease were prevalent. The children's bed-
room ix similarly described ;—there had been eight chil-
dren, between ono and seven years old, sleeping in one bed
4ft. 6in. broad, and sft. 6in. long ; and that cutaneoto•
disease had spread from the closeness of the chil
The men's day-rooms and insane wards are described as
being fearfully overcrowded. One sleeping apartment
described as a cellar, where 15 persons sleep. There was re
chiasney to the room, and ne means of ventilation, except
one small window in the door. The report adds—" The
place was fit for a coal-hole, but not for human beings to
sleep in. The laundry is formed out of a cell on the ()ther
side of the passage. How the reonired work can be dons
in this place .1_ cannot comprehend. Oa the same love'
under ground was a low long room seven feet two in. high.
containing 32 sleepers." The arrangement for the Mini_
nistration of out-door relief is depicted as most defective.
As many as 000 are sometimes relieved in one day. Th,
applicants are crowded into pens, the air being most offen
sive, frequently causing women to faint. "At half-east
5 o'clock as many as 150 still remained unrelieved. They
had no food all day. and many of them stated that they die
not expect any until 7 o'clock. Mr. Birchrnore, therelieeing
overseer. states that his predecessor died from the effect,
of the foul air of this underground office, into which the
directors were unwilling to come. Dr. Jones adds—"
cannot ;sufficiently stroagly express the opinion I have
formed of the evils which result from the cold. wet, foul
air, and fasting which the poor endure. Whileendeavouring
to obtain out-door relief, they are exposed to disease, am
even to death." " Such a state of things ought not to be
tolerated by the Government." The report concludes by
recomineuding that the out-door relieving officers should be
removed at once. Immediate steps should also be taken to
prevent the crowded state of the house by removing the
schools. The arrangement by which the casual women are
mixed with those waiting for admission into the workhouse
in the receiving wards is most likely to introduce and keep
up an outbreak of low fever. These wards should be im-
mediately separated. It is very desirable that an entirely
new budding should be made for an infirmary, where the
access of foul air would be prevented. The cellars for out-
door relief are described as the worst part of the work-
house. It is fortunate that death has not taken place
among the poor in them. " That disease and death has
come out of them is certain, and, although everything has
been done that can be done, I know no word more suited
to them than horrible.' "
Mr. W. D. Cooreet remarked, that although Mr. Bou-
verie had stated in the House of Commons on Friday that
this report land been forwarded to the directors of the poor
of St. Pancras, they did not receive it until that morning,
the letter accompanying the document being dated the
25th. There was no denying the fact that in the main the
report, though very painful, was correct. He therefore
moved that the letter be mitered on the minutes, and that
it, the report, and the report of the vestry committee on
the state of the workhouse, be referred to a committee of
five.
Mr. F. T. STREETEN seconded the motion.

The resolution was carried, and the board broke up.

?fajor•General Sir J. F. Love, the Lieut.-Governor
of Jereey, suddenly left that island for Etigla,nd last week,
in consequence of a despatch received from the Govern•
ment.

HANovER.—The Hanoverian Cabinet has survived its
recent crisis, the Ministers who had proposed to secede
having been induced to retain their portfolios. A decree
convoking the Legislative Chambers for the 2d of April
next bears the signatures of all the members of the Go-
vernment.