Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 26th September 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15

Page 15
Page 15
15 of 24

On this page

  • Text (2)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Progress Of The India.N Rebellion. From ...

      who had been reeling out of the line by sixties a day , compelled him to halt , to send back his invalids and heavy guns , and , it is said , to retire himself . On the 4 th of August , however , he resumed his progress—a fact irreconcilable , we think , with the pret & nded private information , which states that , on the 3 rd , he made a second retrograde movement , and abandoned Lucknow to the rebel army of Dude . Lucknow could hold out to the end of August , unless its garrison were reduced to despair by false accounts of their own hopeless position . There is much confusion in the news from Agra . It is probable that the " besiegers have fired the town , but it would seem that they have sustained some severe reverses . . t The garrison- and European residents were -within the fort , which was considered safe , and which , it would seem , had not been cut off from its communication with the camp at Delhi . At Delhi itself the British merely held a position outside the walls , harassed the i"n surgents ^ svitliby a continual fire , repelled the rebel sorties with great loss on hoth sides , and waited anxiously for reinforcements . It was not believed that any difficulty would be experienced in . storming the place , the walls of which on one side have been dilapidated by our batteries ; but the danger was in rushing in and fighting through miles of streets with a desperate enemy of vastly superior numbers . Meanwhile , the mutinous Sepoys must have been suffering from dissension , from th & shot and . shell playing from the British lines , and from their utter deficiency in medicine and . surgery . If the Europeans could maintain their ground until NicnotsON ' s arrival , with Yak Cortlandt , and perhaps a portion of the Peshawur Brigade , the scale might be turned against the garrison . Otherwise , it would not startle us to hear of a retirement upon Agra : Allyglvur , the natural point at wnich a retiring army would pause , "being rendered unhealthy by its neighbourhood of

      morasses . No official intelligence arrived by the last mail from Bareilly , Ferozepore , Gwalior , ffausi , Hissar , Jhanai , Meerut , Neemuch , or ! N ~ usseerabad , places which may have been isolated by the insurrection , or restored to tranquillity . The despatches tell us nothing certain . All was reported well , however , from Dacca , Ghazeepore , Mhow , In do re , Midnapore , Mirzaporo , Nagode , Nagpore ., and R . e \ vah . Prom Azimghur , JBhaugulpore , Hazareebaugh , and Saugor , we shall not be surprised to liear bad news . At the first , an incipient agitation was going on among , tho troops ; at the second , the Europeans dared not attempt to disarm the Sepoys who had hitherto l ) een quiet ; at the third , there was still a regiment of Native Cavalry trusted with its anna ; this was also the case at Saugor . With respect to these and other parts of India , however , tho turn of events ^ vould depend on the movements in Oude and at Delhi , and tho temper of tho Bombay and Madras armies .

      No. ; 392, September 26,1857'.]' The Lea...

      No . 392 , September 26 , 1857 ' . ] ' THE LEADER . 927

      London Allt And "Water. "We Resume Our A...

      LONDON Allt AND "WATER . "We resume our analysis' of the recent lieports of the Metropolitan Officers of Health . JLUese gentlemen , it should bo stated , have tormed thomselvea into an association , for rautnal assistance- and the promotion of samtary science . Such an interchange of experiences and comparison of data cannot out bo highly beneficial to the public at farge , if only tho powers with which the law iftvesta the officers bo rigidly enforced , and wio nuisances against which tlioy set their ¦ JMttk bo poremptorily removed . To show , fc < aw necessary it- is to have these sei « iatinc detectives to ferret out where lurk tho secret

      seeds of disease , the unconscious poison 1 which consumes our bloom and strength , ' take that clear , sparkling , limpid beverage , so cool and refreshing to the taste on a hot summer's day . It is none of your company ' s water , driven through miles of piping and left to heat and putrify in the cistern . It is just drawn from the pump in the square , and stands in the glass with a brightness and transparency that would win a poet ' s praise . Alas ! what says the report ? The sources whence the -water comes are simply surface wells . These are , -without exception , excessively polluted ; nor is this to be wondered at , if we consider the conditions affecting these falsely named , spring-waters . The great majority of London wells are simply holes in the ground made for intercepting the surface water in its passage through the soil towards its complete filtration , at a niucii lower level . If 310 other circumstances were in operation , such water would be simply imperfectly filtered surface water ; but when we reflect that the soil through which it percolates is of a loose gravelly nature , riddled over with cesspools , and liable to ev-ery impregnation which can affect its surface , and that the nature of water is to absorb any soluble substance with which it comes in contact , we can realize some of the enormities of the pollution to which s-ucli water is subject . In Hanover-square one sucli well has been closed by the inspector ; but what of the others , and how are we to remedy the evil ? ' Hie only means of senurinj ? rmre and undefiled water is bv

      dierofinodeep Artesian wells . The stream would then be obtained from a basin which it could not reach without having passed through a complete process of natural filtration . The principal improvements which have been effected towards the health of London , and ameliorating the condition of the ' lower classes ,- ' consist of tlie construction of private drains , the removal of refuse matter , laying on au increased supply of wholesome water , the cleansing and ventilation of houses , and ~ various other arrangements of this kind . The amount of sanitary improvements accomplished during the year must be regarded with satisfaction ; though , until a general system of drainage on a large scale has been carried out , and the Thames exr empted from being the receptacle of every kind of iiltli , no partial efforts can properly be deemed satisfactory . Two plans seem to have been in operation . —the one to prevent the propagation of disease ; the other , the moral as well as the physical elevation of the poor . It would be impossible to detail the particulars for tho different districts of the metropolis . " We take , however , as a sample , what has been done in one or two parishes . According to the Report we find that in St . Olave's , Southwark , there have been , during the past year , 1 G 9 drains trapped ; 58 houses cither supplied with water or an improved supply given ; 154 yards paved ; M < tJ dust-bins provided ; dj open courts flagged ; besides 90 cesspools emptied and filled up , and other arrangements made for effectually repressing the riso of all noxious vapours . In addition to ventilating , cleansing , and 1 iinewashing houses , many that had long been in a filthy state , totally unfit for human habitation , have been made decent dwellings , and appliances for cleanliness and comfort given which they never possessed before . . In Westminster and Whitechopel the alterations that have been made arc still moro numerous ; whilst thero is not a parish in which some improvements of this kind have not Ibeeii ellbcted , and further improvements in course of being adopted , while in Newington tho advantages of trees and shrubs , as an element in maintaining the purity of tho atmosphere .

      have not been passed over . "We alluded to the attempt made to raise the moral condition of the lower classes . This has been partially effected , of course ,, by taking them out of the filth and wretchedness in which they lived . But a higher step has been taken .. In Sfc . Pancras parish , the association for improving the dwellings of the industrious classes has erected one large building , called Pancrassquare , consisting of one hundred and ten sets of rooms ; each set of rooms has a separate kitchen-range , boiler , and oven ; a scullery with a supply of water ; a place for dust ; and a separate water-closet . The rents of the sets of two rooms vary from 4 s . to 5 s . 6 d . ; for three rooms , from 5 s . to 7 s . a week . There are also some model buildings near the Bagnigge-wells-road , constructed by the Society for Improving the Condition of the labouring Classes . These are small houses with , two floors , adapted for twenty-three families and thirty aged women . The same society has , during the last year , been engaged on the experiment of determining how far existing courts , lanes , and alleys can be cleansed , improved , and made fit for human dwellings at such a cost as to be remunerative . The experiment has been made in three places of the most unpromising character—Wild-court , Drury-lane ; Clark ' s-buildings , St . Giles ' s ; and Tyndall's-huildings , G-ray ' sinn . The two first speculations have answered exceedingly well , in a pecuniary point of view , and there is every probability of the last payinar also .

      Much , then , as we have shown , has been done towards improving the health and aspect of X / ondon ; but a gross inconsistency , as we will prove , is sometimes allowed to mar the good work . IMuch has been effected to remove many of the preventible causes of disease , and to this we shall again return- ; but a gross inconsistency is allowed sometimes to mar the good work . We axe anxious that our narrow streets and alleys shall be widened ; our close and crowded rooms ventilated and thinned ; a good system of drainage constructed , and model homes erected for the labouringclasses . Yet we pull down blocks of houses and streets—always those of the poorwithout a , moment ' s consideration as to where the unfortunate o \ itcasts shall find shelter . What is the consequence ? Take the parish of St . Olave ' s , Southwark . Within the last few years a considerable number of dwellings have been destroyed without any provision being made for the tenants , who distribute themselves by degrees over the untouched localities . These become densely inhabited , and houses that formerly contained one , or not more than two families , have now a family in each room . In the Whitcchapel district , the "building of St . Katharine ' s Docks occasioned the demolition of 1033 houses ; the Eastern Counties and Blackwall Hail way about 150 ; and the new streofc from the London Docks to Shoreditch about 560 more , —1743 in all ; whilst probably during the same period not more than 360 new houses were erected . To mako the evil bear its duo proportion , it must be remembered that tho population of theso districts has been steadily increasing for several years past . This rocltless razing of houses should , undoubtedly , bo restrained . It is mot only seriously detrimental to the health of thoso who sire obliged to live in crowded rooms ; it tends to de-; moralize theso chamber-tenants and increase i pauperism . Pnmilies that used to occupy , houses in some open , aiiy thoroughfare , aro : " now forced into out-of-the-way places , whore few besides tho police and tho pariah officers ; penetrate ; they are , therefore , as the report , very justly observes , deprived of tho adva ' n-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 26, 1857, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26091857/page/15/