The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-04-22 00:00:00

Same day, at Christ Church, Southport. Mr. THOMAS MEL-
LING, fishmonger, of Preston, to Miss CATHERINE HODGE,
of Southport.

Same day, at St. Mary's _
LEWI S, pilot, of this port, to
WILLIAM JONES, cotton-spine

lnch, Woodside. Mr. THOMAS
LICE, second daughter of M

•
Same day, at St. Catherine's Church, Mr. JOHN MOLY.
NEUX, printer, to ANNE. eldest daughter of Mr. R. S.
STEWART, bookbinder, of this town.

On the 15th instant.
GEORGE GRACE to M
park. _

ist's Church, Mr.
S JN, of Toxteth-

s ELLEN TOMLIN

On the 16th instant, at Walton Church, JOHN ELLIS, Esq.,
of Everton, to MARGARET JANE, youngest daughter of the
late Captain HART, of Lancaster.

Same day, at St. Bride's Church, HENRY BRAUN, Esq.,
Soho-street, 1.” Miss MARGARET SARAH M'LEAN.
On the ISth instant, Mr. WILLIAM CAMPBELL, of Oldham.
to LUCY, youngest daughter of Mr. MA:Li IN NOWLAND, of
this town.

DIED
At Bootle, aged 33, ELIZA HAN

If, only daughter of the

At Knoll Top. Honley, aged 42, Mrs. ELIZABETH HODSON.
She was six fect two inches high, and weighed twenty stone.
Lately, FLORA MACDONALD, of Grangehill, iu the neigh-
bourhood of Forres. She had reached her womanhood, and
cou d distinctly remea.ber the battle of Culloden Muir, which,
was fought cn the 16th of April, 1746; so that she must, at least
have been upwards of 121 years of age at the time of her death.
On the 22nd October, on board the barque Nucidersfield, at
Old Calah,r, aged 25, Mr. JOHN murca. cooper, youngest
son of Mr. John dutch, of H.M. Customs. at this p:rt

On the 27th November, at Old Ca'abar, on hoard the ship John
Campbell. aged 21, Mr. HENRY CALLISTER, of this town.
. . . _

ON, of the ship Lane

r, of this pOr

RICHARD CH A;
of Mr. John Dean o

ELIZABETH, wife of Mr.
itt, of this town, and sister

On the

24th ultirn

evere i loess, aged 18,

WESTRAY 188

On the Ist instant, aged sg,,Mr. JOHN DERBYSIIIER, of
Runty Court, Worcestershire, fora erly of West Derby.

On the 2d Instant,
CHARLES HENDERS
Same day, at the ri
Daveuham, aged go, M

at Naples, in ifis 83d year, Sir PHIL!
30N CALDERWOOD DURHAM, G.C.B,
esidenee of J. Lea. Esl.. Grove-mount.
Irs. ANN BEBBINGTON.
ged 22. SARA H, eldest daughter of Mr.

0.. the Bth instant, .
LANCASTER QUI .GIN, late of Maryport.
On the 9th instant, aged 83, the Rev.._ LEXANDER PETTER-
SON, of Magher Ily, Count•; Down. He was a preacher of the
Gospel for the long perion of fifty-seven years, during forty-nine
of which he was a"

Same day, aged

dAitY, wife of Mr. WM. PARKIN

On the
EIItYPF-N-

lath instant, at-Edgmond Rectory, the Rev. JOHN
PlClOTT_lthetar —nct ahha r Lantz hrn..

London-road

1N TA

LOtt, much respected by

all who knew hini
Same day, aged 43, Mr. WM. HODGSON, of thistowr
On the 11th instant, at Mat chester, RA"IfEL, wi
ReV. JOHN GROSSLEY, late of Norwich, near Bolton.
Same day, at Creech St. Michael, aged 103 years, BETTY
SYDENHANI.

'e of the

Same day, aged 72 years, Mr. JOHN QUAIL, of Edge-vale
Edge-hill.
Same day, ;-t his reside
MUEL mILNER, Esq.
Same day, aged 96, ELLEN CROOKELL, of St. Helen's.
Same day, in London, aged 86, MATTHIAS VON HOLST
the celebrate.i corn-

t.lake, Cork, aged go, SA-

relict of Crawford Loga
Same day, ALICE B
FORTUNE, solicitor.

bouse, aged 70
Esq., Black6e!ci

LOGAN,

URGESS, Only o:ug

•hter of Mr. JOHN

Same day, of a fit of a
gm RE. His Lordship

exy, aged 56, the Marquis of DOWN-
.ucceede by the Earl of Hillsborough,

-wi►ose promotion to lie upper Kruse causes a vacancy in the
representation of the county of Down
Same day, aged 72 ye r

!r. J OLIN MARSH, of St. Helen's
Mrs. ALICE CHEW, wife of Mr'

Same day, agel
E. Chew, Toxteth

TUESDAY .1/0!IA/NG, APRIL 22, 1815

The meeting to be held io this town to-morrow
for the purpose of establishing in Liverpool a branch
society, to co-operate with the society in London of
which the Marquis of Norrnanby is chairman, in
an effort to improve the health of large towns by
means of effective measures of sanatory legislation,
deserves the support of every friend of humanity in
Liverpool. The conviction is fast establishing itself
in the minds of those who have most intimately and
closely watched their working, that the local acts at
present in existence, and iven that which came into
operation last year, have failed, to a great extent,
in bringing about the results which were antici-
pated from them. The attempt to remove the mass
of our working population from the occupation of
cellars and confined courts has been found to be
attended with many difficulties, and to be only par-
tially practicable; the regulation of buildings, under
that act, has been evaded in a variety of ways; the
sewerage and drainage of the streets progresses at a
rate far too stow to meet the requirements of our
growing population, or to render it at all likely that,
within any reasonable time, we shall succeed in
removing from our town the stigma of being one of
the most unhealthy, if not the most unhealthy loea-

lily in the united kingdom. Under these circum-
stances. we naturally look, for a more effectual

remedy, to the effect of some general and compul-
sory measure to be devised by the legislature; and
we conceive that we cannot better advance such a
measure than by placing our town, by means of a
branch society, in a position to co-operate with the
influential body in London who are urging the sub-
ject upon the attention of Parliament.
A report on the sanatory condition of the large
towns in Lancashire, by Dr. Lyon Playfair, contains
some facts hearing upon the unhealthy condition of
Liverpool, and suggestions for its cure, which we

need not apologise for bringing, in anticipation of
the meeting to-morrow, before our readers. The
first part of this subject to which Dr. Playfair
addresses himself is the injurious effect upon health
of deficient sewerage and drainage, which he proves
by a mass of stattstcal evidence too convincing to
be disputed. In all the large towns of Lanca,hire,
he shows that mortality is greater in proportion to
the want or insufficient nature of such drainage.
What, then, is the condition of Liverpool in this
respect ? Dr. Duncan estimates the length of inha-
bited streets in Li erpool at about 571 miles, and
of streets wholly or partially severed at 251. We
_ .

have, therefore, 32 miles of inhabited streets which
are totally unprovided with those necessary adjuncts
to health and cleanliness. But a graver considera-
tion, and one in some measure reflecting upon our
sense of justice, remains behind.

"These 25 miles of sewered streets," he states, "are
very um qually divided ami,n4st the different classes of the

inhabitants; for, while rf 243 streets, measuring about
20 miles, inhabited chiefly by the working population,
only 56, measuring about four miles, are sewer6d ; the
proportion of sewerage chiefly occupied by other classes
of society is 179 stree s, measuring about 212 miles."

How far does this state of our sewerage go to
account for the fact that whilst the average age at
death of gentry and professional persons in Liver-
pool is 43, the poor operatives condemned to dwell
in these undr,:ined and unhealthy localities die at
an average age of 15 years ?
Dr. Playfair thus accounts, in part, for the un-
fairness towards the owners of poor dwellings, and
very ably combats its policy :
"I am inclined to impute this circumstance, to the
system of constructing sewers on general rates. The
owners of streets where the property is of a valuable
description, contributing, therefore, m a large proportion
to the rates, naturally expect that their property should

be the first improved ;"but 'in an enlarged and enlightened

policy, the propriety of such expectaii,ns is very ques-
tionable. The great object of aevierage is to remove the
•refuse, which accumulates wherever human beings con-
f4reAttic occu a...
further proofs will be afforded in this report, that the
absence of means for removing such refuse is the cause of
much disease and great mortality. The rich are not
exposed to this evil to the same extent as the poorer
classes; the latter congregate more closely together, and
have net the means or opportunity of employing the
expensive modes resorted to by the higher classes of
society for removing filtn or ensuring cleanliness, either
in their dwellings or vicinity. Toe absence of facilities
for cleansing in the houses of the upper classes, therefore,
only entails an additional expenditure, which is always
incurred. Not so with the poorer classes: the absence
of such facilities with them forms an insurmountable

barrier to cleanline,is ; and they necessarily acquire those
filthy habits which entail upon them all the concomitant
evils of immorality, disease, and death. The results
inevitably flowing from this state of things cause an
immense burden upon public charity, as will be more fully
shown when I consider the expense of sickness in Liver-
pool. At present, it may be sufficient to state that the
cost of the excess of sickness and of death in the parish
of Liverpool over the amount of sickness and death in
other towns of an average mortality, is much more per
annum than the whole amount of money expended in the
sewerage of the town. This burden to the community is
-not imposed by localities inhabited by the wealthy classes,
but by those districts which hitherto have been too much
•overlooked in the endeavour to promote structural im-
provements. The mere drainage of such localities might
not remove, but would materially relieve, this enormous
pecuniary burden, to say nothing of the alleviations of
...more momentous evils."

We may add, as another reason of this apparent
neglect of the sewerage of the poor districts of the
town, and to remove from the authorities the stig-
ma, which might he attempted to be fastened upon
them, of inattention to the health of the poor, the
fact that up to this time all the means at their dis-
posal have been exhausted by the formation of the
main sewers—the great arteries—which naturally
are formed through the widest and best streets. It
may be said why have the means of the present
authorities been so greatly beneath the requirements
of the case ? We ans.ver that those authorities
have attempted to procure more ample means, and
have failed, from the opposition offered to them by
the parish. Nearly half a century ago they ap-
plied for a bill containing many of the provisions
and powers now recommended, but were compelled
by the opposition in question to withdraw it. In
In 1830 they applied again, and procured the bill
under whose provisions the present sewers have
been constructed ; but a similar opposition crippled
the powers sought, which has produced the defici-
ency of sewerage and draining which Dr. Playfair
notices. The authorities, therefore, are not the
parties at whose door the blame of the existing
evil, so far as sewerage is concerned, should be laid.
They have ,'one all within their power with the
limited means at their disposal.

It is clear, then, that some effort must be made
to secure a more efficient state of this department of
our sanatoria] remedies. We must have, in the
first instance—to quote the evidence of Mr. Samuel
Holme—" a perfect system of public sewers : there
must be arteries before we can have a free circula-
tion through the veins." And, these arteries being
made, we must have a power placed somewhere of
enforcing and of regulating the construction of pri-
vate drains to communicate with them.

Imperfect as the sewerage of Liverpool is consi-
dered to be by Dr. Playfair, the scavenging is not
less so ; and that effective scavenging is a very
material conducive to health, is generally admitted.
To our local readers we need not adduce any
evidence beyond. that of their own senses to shew
that many of our best streets are very inefficiently
cleansed, and that most of the streets inhabited
-by the poorer classes are in a most filthy and noxious
state. To remedy this evil, the report before us
states that—
" The powers in the metropolitan and Liverpool acts
are not sufficiently summary, and, conseqpently, are nearly
inoperative."
In proof of the insufficiency of the powers given
by our local act to regulate the building of courts,
Dr. Playfair adduces the following very conclusive
statement :

" The melancholy facts elicited by the examination of
the town surveyors of Liverpool show that in the twelve
parochial wards of that town (that is, exclusive of the four
extra parochial wards.) there are no less than 55,531 per-
sons living in courts, some of which are of the most ob-
jectionable construction. Out of 1982 courts examined
by the surveyors, only 478. or less than one fourth, were
found to be open in the front and back, so as to admit a
current of air through them. Many courts and narrow
streets were run up in Liverpool previous to the operation
of the Health Act, with the express intention of escaping
its salutary clauses ; and ever since this act has been
brought into operation, mean have been found to evade
its intentions, as shown by Mr. Aspinall, who states that,
to elude the clauses enacting a width of fifteen feet for
courts, this width is kept merely at the entrance, the rows
of houses then going up in wedge shape, and branching off
like a tree, so that what is nominally a court, becomes a
ravaged street, there being no regulation as to its depth.
igokrit of the act is further evaded by running up

Dr. Playfair adds, as a comment upon this state-
ment—

"The result is very striking, that while byth sets of
courts possessed the enormously hizh mortal;ty of 5 4- lOrhs
per cent., more than 22 persons in every 100 in the
undrained cgurts had serious cases of illness, and only 10
in every 100 in the drained courts."

Another evidence of the great amount of sickness
produced from confined and ill-cleansed dwellings,
is contained in a table drawn up from, returns fur-
nished by the Treasurer of the Old Church Paro-
chial Charity Schools, Liverpool, shewing the ave-
rage number of children absent from sickness,
living in different classes of tenements. From this
return we find, that in Moorfields Schools, the pro-
portion of boys living in houses and absent from
sickness was 3 per cent., and of those living in cel-
lars 19 per cent.; the proportion of girls in houses
2 1-sth, and in cellars 16 per cent.; of infants in
houses 6, and in cellars no less than 70 per cent. !
In St. Matthias's, the proportions were—boys in
houses, 4 1-sth, and in cellars 10 per cent; girls
in houses 5 9-10ths. and in cellars 15 3-10:hs per
cent. ; infants in houses 2 3-10ths, and in cellars
241 per cent. The houses referred to, and which
shew such an advantage in point of health, contain
on an average four families in each ; and we may
well ask, what unwholesome dens must be the
cellars ?
`VF ask our raiders and thosp of our
felluw-
townsmen who do not ordinarily take their opinions
from us, to weigh these facts and their hearing
attentively. If you like, leave out of view, for the
present, the question of humanity involved in the
subject, and look at it purely as an economical
question. What a tax upon the means and the
energies of our suffering population is this vast
amount of sickness, which results so plainly from
inefficient sanatorial regulation ! Two out of every
nine inhabitants of our badly drained courts are
annually visited with serious illness, which we might
mitigate, if not even prevent ; and the loss to the
families of those so afflicted may take months, and
even years of striving, to make up for. Besides this,
the community has to contribute the funds for their
medical treatment, to maintain permanently prema-
ture widowhood and orphanage, and to draw largely
from the poor rates for the temporary support of hun-
dreds of families. Such a sanatory improvement of
the town as would raise it to even an average healthy
condition would, we do not hesitate to say, contri-
bute more to elevate the condition of our working
classes, to induce amongst them increased habits
of cleanliness, improved morals, temperance, and
education, than any legislation which could be de-
vised, or any amount of commercial prosperity which
could be achieved ; and we are equally satisfied that
its cost would be abundantly repaid to those from
whom the necessary funds would have to be drawn,
in the decrease of crime and pauperization which it
would create.

In corroboration of our own belief, let us turn to
the evidence and the opinion of Dr. Playfair upon
this part of the subject. A table compiled by him,
" shewing the excess in loss of life, beyond that of
Ulverstone," in a number of the towns of Lanca-
shire, gives the general result that—
" There are every year in Lancashire 14,000 deaths and
398,000 cases of sickness which might be prevented, and
that 11,000 of the deaths consist of adults engaged in
productive labour. It further shows, that every indi-
vidual in Lancashire loses 19 sears, or nearly one half of
the proper term of his life, and that every adult loses
more than ten years of life, and, from premature old age
and sickness, much more than that period of working
ability. Without taking into consideration the diminu-
tion of the physical and mental energies of the survivor,
from sickness, and other depressing causes; without esti-
mating the loss from the substitution of young and in-
experienced labour for that which is skilful and produc-
tive; without including the heavy burdens incident to the
large amount of preventible widowhood and orphanage;
without calculating the loss from the excess of births, re-
sulting from the excess of deaths, or the cost of the
maintenance of an infantile population, nearly one-half
of which is swept off befbre it attains two gears of aye,
and about 59 per cent. of which never become adult pro-
ductive labourers: and with data in every case much
bek,w the truth, I estimate the actual pecuniary burdens
borne by the community in the support of removable dis-
ease and death in Lancashire alone at the annual sum of
five midions of pounds sterling."

Of this large amount the proportion of sacrifice
put down to Liverpool and West Derby alone is
£1,310,974! Another table,—and we impress this
fact upon our newly constituted select vestry,—shews
that, on the 18th March, 1844, the parishes of Li-
verpool and West Derby were supporting in their
workhouses 435 orphan and 123 deserted children ;
and were giving out-door relief to 2411 widows, with
2660 children dependent upon them. Need we in-
quire how much any sanatory measure by which a
greater average duration of life could be conferred
upon our working classes, would tend to diminish
the vast outlay which we are now making for the
maintenance of these unfortunates ?

There is an argument which has been frequently
adduced that the unhealthiness of Liverpool is in
great part attributable to the constant influx of a
migratory population, by whom disease is introduced
and the apparent mortality of the stationary popu-
lation thereby increased; and that, from this pecu-
liarity in our position, Liverpool is not capable of
the same degree of sanatorial improvement as other
large towns.

Dr. Playfair, however, as the result of an elabo-
rate inquiry arrives at the following totally opposite
conclusions, viz., that—
" The migratory population of Liverpool is a much
more healthy class thin the residents of that town.
" That the migratory population consists chiefly of
adults.

" That the deaths occurring among such a population
must give an appearance of longe7ity to Liverpool, to
which it is not entitled.

" That the proportion of the population to deaths is
elevated by migrants. and that Liverpool is thus rendered
apparently more healthy than it really is.
Tnat the opinion of the Health Committee as to a great
influx of the starving population of manufacturing towns
in the digressed years is erroneous, being based upon
the mortality of a half year, which showed a great excess
over that of the half year preceding, and of all periods
since."

We are compelled, by other demands upon our
space, to limit our extracts from this valuable re