Sanitary work in the west riding

336

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE

M a c k e n z i e , Dr. R o b i n s o n , Mr. Percival, M r . Smailes, a n d Dr. M. Y o u n g . I t was also a g r e e d t h a t t h e P r e s i d e n t , t h e Secretary, a n d Dr. L i t t l e j o h n be t h e r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s of t h e B r a n c h o n t h e C e n t r a l Society. ;; SLIPSHOD

SANITATION.

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A p a p e r o n this s u b j e c t was t h e n r e a d b y D r . H u n t e r , w h o s e r e m a r k s were i l l u s t r a t e d b y t h e aid of a n electric lantern, worked b y Mr. Nichols, o f t h e City E n g i n e e r s ' D e p a r t m e n t . Dr. H u n t e r o b s e r v e d t a u t h e r e a d a p a p e r before t h e society o n t h e same s u b j e c t in J u n e , 1894 , a n d since t h e n h e h a d t a k e n a n u m b e r of p h o t o g r a p h s f r o m w h i c h t h e slides were r e p r o d u c e d . These s h o w e d well-marked e x a m p l e s o f careless work, a n d p r o v e d b e y o n d d o u b t that, in places where t h e p h o t o g r a p h s were taken, work h a d b e e n d o n e t h a t was d a n g e r o u s to health, a useless expense to t h e p r o p e r t y owners, a n d likely to b r i n g discredit o n s a n i t a r y work. M o s t o f it was e x e c u t e d u n d e r t h e eyes of t h e m e n w h o p o s e d as experts, with t h e c o n s e n t o f t h e a u t h o r i t i e s a p p o i n t e d to s a f e g u a r d t h e p u b l i c health. T h e r e was a m p l e e v i d e n c e in t h e L o c a l G o v e r n m e n t reports, a n d in t h e r e p o r t s o f t h e officials of t h e various p u b l i c s a n i t a r y authorities, as well as o f t h e m a n y private s a n i t a r y p r o t e c t i o n societies, t o show t h a t t h e evil was n o t by any m e a n s local, b u t t h a t it prevailed all o v e r t h e c o u n t r y . I t followed t h a t t h e r e was s o m e t h i n g radically w r o n g in a s y s t e m o f sanitary a d m i n i s t r a tion t h a t p e r m i t t e d s u c h a m o c k e r y o f s a n i t a t i o n to b e c a r r i e d on. M e a n s of p r e v e n t i o n c o u l d a n d s h o u l d b e found. DISCUSSION. MR. J. P. ASTON (Eccleshill) said that for twenty-five years he had been in the habit of saying that he had never seen sanitary work properly done ia Yorkshire. The large towns of the West Riding were very much behind the smaller towns so far as sanitary engineering was concerned. They ought to insist on all drains being made absolutely water and air tight, In his own district they did not allow drains to be passed that were not subjected to the hydraulic test ; but he had found health officers who were not familiar with the details of the test. It was a raost important part of their duty as officers to see that all drainage works were carried out thoroughly and efficiently, and they should satisfy themselves that all plans for d~velliugs or schools complied with the canons of sanitary engineering. What they wanted was a higher sense ofresponsibillty, and a higher consdentiousness on the part of architects, contractors, and workpeople. It was a perfect scandal that only a small percentage of architects could be found who knew anything at all about sanitation or sanitary eng;neering. DI~. MASON (Hull) contended that no plans should be passed except by a duly qualified public body, and those bodies should possess properly qualified inspectors in whom they could place implicit trust. Dr. LITTLEJOHN (Sheffield) did not agree that the architects were so bad as Mr. Aston represented them to be, though he considered they should give more personal supervision to buildings. In nearly all Yorkshire towns undedicated streets were a great nuisance. These towns had grown at so rapid a rate that the Corporations could not overtake the work of their adequate supervision, and in Sheffield, for example, they had miles of such streets, and

YORKSHIRE

BRANCH.

their condition was as bad as, and even worse than, that shown in the photographs of Dr. Hunter. It was, however, a matter of time. They all recognised the evil. These undedicated streets were undrained, unsewered, unpaved ; they were dirty, and the houses in them were therefore dirty too. It was, as he said, a matter of time, and one of the sanitary improvements they hoped to effect was to procure the dedication of those streets, and then to have them properly paved and sewered. He might mention that in Sheffield all drains were subjected to the hydraulic and smoke tests. The only remedy for the evils described that afternoon was proper supervision, and for the authorities to have the power to prevent any drain being covered until it had been inspected. He was quite prepared in his own town of Sheffield to ,ay, ' " If you do the drainage to my satisfaction I am prepared to give you a certificate, bu~ I won't do it unless you give me full power to inspect." Councillor WOMERSLEY, as representing the Sanitary Committee of the Leeds Town Council, expressed the pleasure it gave them to have the presence of so many eminent gentlemen in the city--gentlemen who were undertaking a most important work, though a work that was by no means appreciated by the general lmblic as it ought to be. With regard to the exhibition of photcgraphs they had had that afternoon, he did not think they had anything so bad in Leeds. He hoped they had not. In Leeds they had what they considered to be an excellent and efficient staff of inspectors. They had eighteen, and to hear many people talk, one would think they had too many. In spite of careful inspection, the evils complained of did occur, and it seemed to him that the public would have to recognise that if they wanted good work they must be prepared to pay good money for it. He believed a great deal of the evil lay there. One way of improving the existing condition of things would be for peopleb when they employed an architect, to satisfy themselves that the contracts were let at a fair price. A vote of thanks to the President concluded the meeting.

SANITARY WORK IN T H E W E S T RIDING. DINNER TO DR. WHITELEGGE. I n t h e e v e n i n g a c o m p l i m e n t a r y d i n n e r was given by t h e Y o r k s h i r e m e m b e r s of t h e Society t o Dr. Whitelegge, late M e d i c a l Officer to the W e s t R i d i n g C o u n t y Council, a n d r e c e n t l y a p p o i n t e d to t h e office of H e r Majesty's C h i e f I n s p e c t o r o f Factories. M r . F. E. A t k i n s o n , t h e n e w p r e s i d e n t , o c c u p i e d t h e chair, a n d was s u p p o r t e d b y a numerous company. T h e loyal toasts were cordially recognised, " T h e A r m y , Navy, a n d R e s e r v e F o r c e s " b e i n g p r o p o s e d by Dr. H a r v e y L i t t t e j o h n , a n d a c k n o w l e d g e d b y M a j o r W. S. Mackenzie and Captain Wright Mason. The latter r e m a r k e d t h a t u n d e r t h e n e w regulations of t h e W a r Office e a c h new V o l u n t e e r r e c r u i t m u s t pass t h e m e d i c a l officer, a n d c o u l d n e v e r b e r e g a r d e d as a n efficient unless h e h a d good h e a l t h to b a c k h i m u p in t i m e of e m e r g e n c y . The PRESIDENT proposed the health of the guest of the evening. He said they were met together in the first place to bid farewell to Dr. Whitelegge as Medical Of/leer of Health for the West Riding, and one and all of t~em felt that to be a matter of profound regret. Dr. Whitelegge had held the position since x889, and all who had met him had been impressed with his genial cordiality~ his unvarying kindness and courtesy, the wisdom of his advice, ann the spirit of brotherhood in which it had always been tendered. He had thus endeared himself to his co-workers in sanitary affairs~