The GLOBE. SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1882. THE SANITARY CONDITION OF ST. ALBANS.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2581, 15 July 1882, Page 2

The GLOBE. SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1882. THE SANITARY CONDITION OF ST. ALBANS.

The report of the Medical Officer of Health presented to the Board yesterday i must have startled the members of that body, as it has the public. As our readers are no doubt aware that for some time past diphtheria has been raging in St. Albans, and that many fatal cases have occurred, at first sight one would be in•lin«d to wonder why it should be so, as to all outward seeming the St. Albans is a district which ought to be healthy.. Bat when we turn to the report of the Medical Officer a most serious state of things is disclosed, celling for immediate attention on the part of the Council. Tha whole of the district, we are told, has for years past been saturated with filth, and decaying vegetable and other matter is allowed to accumulate round the dwellings. Nor is this all, for we are informed that the Inspector has discovered that no lees than two hundred cesspools exist in the most populous portion of St. Albans, This fact seems to us to point to some degree of negligence on the part of the Borough Council. This body has been in existence some time, and yet this is the first time we have had any information on a subject which so vitally affects the public health. Surely with the example of other municipalities before them, with the knowledge reiterated time after time by the Medical Officer. that the existence of cesspools is detrimental in the highest degree to tha health of the district, no steps appear to have been taken. The result which might have been expected followed. Disease broke out and ran rampant through many families, causing many homes to be desolated. Yet, until tha Officer of Health makes his report, wa hear nothing of these fruitful causes of diseases and death which exist in 4ho very centre of the most thickly populated parts. It must be remembered that this is a matter affecting not only the St. Albans district, but the whole community. The boundary Una between the city and the borough of St. Albans is not a cordon sanitaire. It will not prevent the poisonous exhalations from the cesspits and otber abominations of St. Albans, from coming into the city and spreading disease around. What is past cannot be recalled. Tha

sad memories of those lost through what we cannot but characterise as a breach of the sanitary laws, aud neglect on the part of the authorities to enforce them, still remain ; hut there is work to he done so as to preclnde the possibility of such a state of things occuring again. With the astounding facts revealed by ths medical officer's report before them, it is the imperative duty of the St. Albans Council to take steps to compel the residents to remove the nuisances therein detailed. If thoy do not, then the Board of Health, for the protection not only of St. Albans but the whole district, must insist upon the cesspits being filled up and the pan system introduced. In dealing with matters of this kind affecting the public health half measures are useless. The cause of the disease must be extirpated with a firm hand and completely. It is utterly useless to compel a

few of the residents to fill up the cesspits. All and every one must he done away with, and at once. That this, conpled with tho deposit of decaying vegetable matter in close proximity to the houses, has been the cause of the outbreak of diphtheria, is undoubted. The authorities now know where the disease originated, and have the remedy in their own hands. But no time must be lost. In this instanco the proverb that delays are dangerous applies with double force. Tbo disease, it is trao, appears somewhat to havo spent its force, bat who can tell where or when it may not break out with increased virulence. A few comparatively warm days and the poisonous exhalations will onee more rise to taint the air, and spread disease and death around. A grave responsibility rests upon the authorities in this matter—a respondbility which can neiihur be shirked nor evaded, and we hope to ses them recognise it iu its fullest s.ns?.