The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-17 00:00:00

Smoke in Towns.

A public letter was recently sent from the Home-
office to the Mayors or local authorities in several
of our chief towns, making inquiries in relation to
the prevention of the nuisance arising from smoke,
and a paper has been issued stating the substance of
the replies to this circular. From Stoke-on-Trent
we learn that, though the Local Government Act
has been adopted, the law is a dead letter through-
out the pottery districts. At Derby the law is not
so generally observed as it ought to be ; at Sheffield
the nuisance has been to some extent diminished,
but the manufacturers generally evince reluctance
to comply with the by-laws; at Sunderland the
nuisance has diminished, but the enforcement of the
law has been very partial. But what are laws if they
are not enforced? The Liverpool return states that
the smoke nuisance has considerably diminished
under the local Act of 1854, but the law might be
made more effectual. The Birmingham return is
that the quantity of smoke issuing from the various
furnaces has been greatly diminished, and the atmo-

sphere is purer ; at Huddersfield the average amount
of reduction of dense smoke is from 10 to 6 ; at
Leicester the small amount of smoke, considering
the number of long chimneys, is the subject of ob-
servation to all strangers. At .Newcastle-upon-Tyne

a considerable reduction of the nuisance has been
effected ; and so also at Leeds. From Manchester
the result is stated to be a marked improvement.
But there is another return from Manchester, pub-
lished by the Registrar-General; Mr. Leigh, the
registrar of the sub-district of Deansgate, rex.orting
on the first quarter of the present year, says
Coal smoke forms a continual dark and dense
canopy over the town, and causes a murkiness in
the streets from which they are never free. On the
finest day the air is darkened by haze, and the
prospect seems bounded as by an impenetrable
wall. Blacks' settle on the streets and footpaths,
find their way into the houses, soil and damage fur-
niture and wearing apparel and other things, till it
is generally recognised that light-coloured clothes
cannot be worn in Manchester, nor the hands re-
main clean, if ungloved. The constant inhalation
of these black particles (of which an analysis is
given) must be highly irritating to the lungs, and
productive in many instances of an amount of in-
flammation sufficient to induce incipient phthisis or
bronchitis, or to determine the recurrence of these
where a predisposition exists. There is besides these
black particles issuing from our factory chimneys,
a more finely precipitated matter, which in the
country curls among the trees from the roof of a
cottage, and in Manchester forms the constant haze
of our streets. I do not think any scientific in-
vestigation has yet been made of it. It is not
gaseous, for it does not diffuse ; it is not simply
vaporous. When it saturates or charges a Novem-
ber fog it is sticky and exclusively irritating to the
eyes and throat. It must in a less degree be a con-
stant source of irritation under the ordinary condi-
tions of a smoky atmosphere. It proceeds from the
imperfect combustion of bituminous matter, and
partially from the distillation of the least volatile
products of coal. From experiments I have made
on it I am satisfied that it is in some degree bitu-
minous. . . . A smoky town atmosphere must
contain an abnormal amount of carbonic acid, and a
distinct Amount of sulphuretted hydrogen and of
sulphurous acid ; and I know of no circumstance
more likely to predispose a population for the recep-

tion of fever or cholera than the constant inhalation
of an atmosphere vitiated by the presence of sul-
phuretted hydrogen. The gas does exist in the
atmosphere of Manchester. From the chimney of a
perfect furnace nothing ought to be evolved but in-
visible carbonic acid, sulphurous acid, and watery
vapour ; all else means waste of coal and injury to
health. Manchester must be regarded in
many respects as a model town ; but it is one of the
least healthy in the kingdom. Children under five
years of age contribute half of the total mortality,
while in the agricultural:districts one-third of the
deaths is their proportion. The artisan's wife dies
in middle age ; and his own career is cut short long
before he has reached the 70 years' term allotted to
man."

THE CHURCH ESTATES.—The 15th annual report
of the Church Estates Commissioners has just been
presented to Parliament, from which we extract the most
important paragraphs. The Commissioners state :—We
have transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for
England during the past year a sum of £50,000, in respect
of the surplus proceeds of enfranchisements completed.
The aggregate amount which has been paid over or trans-
ferred to the account of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
is now £1,250,207 2s. 2d., in addition to .£140,000 in respect
of interest which has accrued on the surplus. We last year
reported that the transactions approved by us between
August, 1831, and March, 1865, were 2,638 in number, and
that the value in fee of the estates so agreed to be dealt
with amounted to about £10,310,000. We have during this
year approved the terms agreed upon in 105 cases ; 98 be-
ing cases of sales of reversions, and seven cases of pur-
chases of leasehold interests, and the value in fee of the
estates so agreed to be dealt with is approximately
£350,000. The aggregate number of cases approved by us
is therefore 2,742, and the value of the property dealt with
amounts to about £10,660,000. In three cases we declined
to approve the terms proposed ; but in two of these the
terms have been modified so as to meet with our sanction,
and they have been included in the number above stated
to have been approved. •