SANITARY CONDITION OF OXFORD.

909 SANITARY CONDITION OF OXFORD.

already diminished these evils; the sewers are of a capacity considerably above the requirements of the town,

has

and well constructed, a separate system of drains carryON Monday night Mr. Gathorne Hardy announced that ing off the storm water. The water in the subsoil has been Mr. T. Cave, the hon. member for Barnstaple, had withthese means, as is shown in the emptying of drawn his notice, in which he charged the Oxford autho- several of the wells in the upper part of the town. The rities with 11 gross and wilful neglect" of the sanitary con- flooding of the cellars with sewage during the winter floods has been and when the proper outfall has been dition of the town. Mr. Cave explained that the notice, secured will not occur at all. We record these improvements though withdrawn for the present, was only postponed ; he with satisfaction, as showing that the Oxford authorities had received since the first appearance of his notice of have not been altogether guilty of 11 gross and wilful motion so many communications from various persons in- neglect," and we are anxious that full justice should be done terested in the City of Oxford, that he wished to obtain them in this respect. It is only by such discrimination that we can hope to draw public attention to points of individual fuller information on the subject before bringing it before’ neglect and carelessness, and direct the blame to the right the House. He hoped, however, at an early date to fix a day, and ptate in what mode he would bring the matter before the House. We are not sorry the question has for a time KNIGHTSBRIDGE BARRACKS. been postponed. We feel sure that the charge against the it was Oxford sanitary authority as stood in the late notice FOR many years the inhabitants of Knightsbridge have far too sweeping, and could not have been sustained. Within endeavoured to effect the removal of the Barracks in which the last few years undoubted improvements have been the Household Cavalry are quartered, and which are situated effected in the sanitary condition of town by the authorities, on the Park side of the Knightsbridge-road; but hitherto " and in answer to the charge of gross and wilful neglect" no success has attended their endeavours. The present they could point with satisfaction to the costly drainage outbreak of scarlet fever among the troops and families of works now in progress, and request that any motion of centhe 2nd Life Guards has afforded an opportunity for resure on their conduct should be postponed till these works agitation, and we are glad to see that the inhabitants were completed, and their effect on the health of the city have promptly availed t,hp.m!’1p.1vp.R of it. judged of. Mr. Cave will be wise if, instead of charging the Last Saturday a very influential deputation among Oxford authorities with " gross and wilful neglect" in the whom were Mr. Lowe, M.P., Mr. Forsyth, M.P., Lord Alfred general sanitary administration of the town, he selects some Churchill, Lord Howard of Glossop, Baron de Worms, Sir of those points of sanitary management which by common T. E. Moss, and Sir Henry Holland-waited on Lord Henry consent have been shamefully neglected. Take, for instance, Lennox, the ChiefCommissioner of Woods and Forests, for the water-supply, to which we have frequently referred. Let the purpose of laying before him their views on the subject. Mr. Cave tell the House that the reservoir is simply an old They urged the removal of the barracks upon the following gravel pit, utterly unprotected from any chance impurities pleas: first, that they spoilt what ought to be the finest that may be thrown into it. That the springs which fill this site in London; secondly, that the purlieus round the barreservoir set from the closely adjacent river, through a bed of racks were the haunts of immorality and vice ; and, thirdly, porous drift gravel which would form a natural filter had not that the buildings themselves were old, rotten, and utterly the authorities allowed acoHection of cottages to be built upon for habitation. Mr. Lowe stated that Lord Cardwell it, forming the suburb of New Hincksey. Let him state thatunfit these cottages are entirely undrained, and that the contents! and the late Government had determined upon their reof cesspools and privies leaking out into the porous soil con- moval, and had the Liberal Government remained in office taminate the water in its passage to the reservoir, so that they would have carried out their determination. Lord practically the inhabitants of Oxford drink unfiltered the Henry Lennox promised to lay the complaints before the diluted sewage of Hincksey, the degree of dilution varying and to urge on them the necessity of dealing of course with the amount of water in the reservoir. Let he acknowledged to be a 11 great nuisance." The him also add that for more than seven years eminent with sanitary authorities have pointed out this disgraceful state only difficulty that appears to lie in the way is the probaof things, and that the local authorities have systematically the military authorities may object to their reignored their recommendations and suggestions. That the moval on military grounds. We hardly think that such a suburb of Hineksey is still undrained, and that the chance plea could be raised ; but if it is thought necessary to have of the water being contaminated is daily becoming greater. troopsstationed in the immediate vicinity of the park, we It is terrible to think for a moment what would happen if would suggestthat a guard-house would be sufficient, whilst enteric fever became prevalent at Hincksey ; the interests of the barracks themselves might be removed to some more Oxford and hundreds of homes in England depend upon eligible spot. In these days of telegraphic communication, the health of these few cottages. We are convinced that; Chelsea or Wormwood Scrubs would be practically as near these facts placed before the House, and supported by such London as Knightsbridge was in the days of George the evidence as is furnished by Dr. G. Buchanan’s Report on thE mh;,. Sanitarv Condition of Oxford. bv the renort of our Sanitary The present barracks were erected about the time of the Commissioners last October, and Dr. Gilbert Child’s com- Lord George Gordon riots, at the latter part of last century. munication to the Sanitary Record in the spring of this year, The principal buildings are about 500 feet long and 50 feet would lead to a strong expression of condemnation, and per- wide, and stand on a bed of gravel of considerable depth ; haps bring about the much-needed reform. We particularly but the site is absurdly too narrow for the accommodation commend to Mr. Cave’s attention the black fetid mud, which that it is expected to afford, and the requirements of the is thickly deposited at the bottom of the reservoirs, as likely barracks are much greater now than was the case when to illustrate the nature and character of the contamination. they were constructed, for the presence of women and chilWe are glad to find the sanitary condition of our universi- dren in the barrack was never contemplated in the original ties is at last, likely to become the subject of Parliamentary design. The rooms are low, much too low, and in conseinquiry. With respect to their sanitary arrangements, quence there is great difficulty in ventilating them, and Oxford and’Cambridge have for years been below the ave- when the windows are closed the air speedily becomes foul. rage of most country towns. The condition of Oxford before The difficulty experienced in obtaining sufficient ventilation the new drainage works were commenced was most deplor- is shown by the outside of the building, which is literally able. The old drains were inadequate to the wants of the riddled with shaft holes, yet in spite of all the means emtown, and during the floods the water pushed back the sew- ployed the air of the interior remains close and musty. Of age into the basements of the houses. The surface water the buildings themselves we can only say that they are old, could not be got rid of, consequently the soil was always badly constructed, and fast hastening to decay, and appear waterlogged and damp. The new system of drainage likely to solve for themselves at an early date the question

are lowered by

diminished,

newed

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Government, what

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