Chapter XXIV: Appendix (14)

┌────────┬─────────┬─────────┬──────────┐ │ │ │ │ No. 8. │ │ │ │ │ Average │ │ │ │ │ Annual │ │ │ │ No. 7. │ Sickness │ │ │ │ Average │ of │ │ │ │ Annual │provident │ │ │ │Sickness │portion of│ │ │ │ of │ Working │ │ │ │ Members │ Classes │ │ │ │ of │throughout│ │ │ │ Benefit │ Great │ │ │ │Societies│ Britain, │ │ │ │ in │according │ │ │ │Scotland.│ to the │ │ │ │ │experience│ │ │ │ │ of Mr. │ │ │ │ │Finlaison.│ ├────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┤ │ AGE. │Years of │ Days & │ Days & │ │ │ Age. │Decimals.│Decimals. │ │Under 16│ │ │ │ │ Years │ │ │ │ │16 to 21│ 18│ 2·5│ 5·18│ │21 to 26│ 23│ 3·8│ 6·75│ │26 to 31│ 28│ 4·6│ 6·78│ │31 to 36│ 33│ 5·6│ 6·33│ │36 to 41│ 38│ 6·2│ 7·86│ │41 to 46│ 43│ 8·8│ 9·02│ │46 to 51│ 48│ 9·1│ 11·76│ │51 to 56│ 53│ 14·8│ 16·77│ │56 to 61│ 58│ 17·8│ 23·57│ │61 to 66│ 63│ 20·0│ 33·22│ │66 to 71│ 68│ 36·0│ 61·22│ │71 to 76│ 73│ 38·6│ 101·44│ │76 to 81│ 78│ 70·9│ 164·72│ └────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────┘

The total number of male prisoners in the three prisons from which the returns were compiled was 7,328; of which number, in the Glasgow prison there were 1,796, in the Edinburgh prison 1,256, and in the Salford prison 4,276 prisoners. The columns inserted in the above table from the prisons give only the amount of sickness prevalent amongst the males. The returns which are given in full in the Appendix contain the amount of sickness prevalent among the female prisoners also.

The information as to the actual amount of sickness prevalent amongst the labouring classes is at present extremely defective for the purposes of insurance. One of the most authentic tables is that compiled by Dr. Mitchell, from returns we obtained under the Factory Commission of Inquiry, of the experience of sickness amongst the labourers employed by the East India Company in their warehouses in London. The experience was from 2461 workmen employed during ten years. (Return No. 4.)

This is a highly favourable table, inasmuch as the men were, in the first instance, select, nearly as much so as recruits in the army; care was also taken to give men who became infirm such labour as they could perform without exertion; but, above all, they had the benefit of medical advice without any expense, and being thereby induced to make early application, disease was cut short at once on its first appearance. Moreover, they were not allowed to return to work until they had a medical certificate of their cure.

Another table (No. 5) given is one of the amount of sickness experienced by the male operatives in the cotton mills in England, also deduced from the returns directed to be made under the Factory Commission of Inquiry. But these returns do not include the experience of the mills in Manchester, which was not collected by the district commissioners.

The table (No. 6) is that made up by Mr. Tait, surgeon, from his inquiries of the experience of sickness in the wynds of Edinburgh.

The next table (No. 7) is made up from the experience of benefit societies in Scotland, subsequent to the experience tables which were compiled by the Highland Society; but this is the experience of a select class, which appears to me to be too favourable for general use in Scotland.

The next table (No. 8) is one in use by Mr. Finlaison, the actuary at the National Debt Office, prepared from various sources of information. It has been tried by the experience of a large benefit society in Bethnal Green, and the allowance for sickness was found to be low as compared with the sickness occurring amongst the labouring classes in that district.

The account given by Mr. Tait, of his investigation of the sickness which had prevailed amongst 335 persons in 180 families, exhibited in column No. 5, is as follows:—

“The parts visited may be considered a fair specimen of the Edinburgh
wynds and closes. They consist of Gillon’s and Gibb’s Closes,
Canongate, Blackfriars’ Wynd, Bremot’s and Skinner’s Closes, High
Street, and Meal-market Stairs, Cowgate. The drainage of all these
places is bad; the sewers are without exception open, and those in
Gillon’s and Gibb’s Closes being nearly on a dead level, keep these
places constantly in a filthy condition. The poverty of the
inhabitants who reside in Gibb’s Close, especially, is also extreme,
five out of seven families living in apartments without furniture. The
ventilation in general is also bad: several apartments are so close
that it is difficult for a person when he first enters them to
breathe. In several instances I had to retreat to the door to write
down my notes, as I found the stench and close atmosphere produce a
sickening sensation which, on one occasion, terminated in vomiting.
Although some of the apartments visited were tidy and clean, in
general they were the reverse. It is impossible to conceive or
describe the filthy condition of some of them. Many of them were very
small, and others rather capacious, considering the quantity of
furniture they contained. The diseases mentioned were such as to throw
the persons affected out of employment. There were many cases of
slight and continued ailment of which no notice was taken. No case of
rheumatism was taken down unless so severe as to lay the person
entirely off work.

“About 180 families were visited, but only 117 of them had been one
year and upwards in their present dwelling: all the cases of sickness
occurred between Martinmas, 1840, and Martinmas, 1841, and none of the
patients,” _i. e._ of whom any account was taken, “were under ten
years of age,” those under that age being intentionally excluded.

Mr. Hill states, that he has no doubt the results, which will be apparent from the examination of the several tables which are placed in juxta-position, would be corroborated by similar returns obtained from other well-regulated prisons in Scotland. The returns from the prisons in England up to the year 1834–5 (which do not, however, give the days of sickness, but only the number of prisoners attacked with sickness during the period for which the return was made) further corroborate these results. Even in the Milbank Penitentiary, the situation of which is insalubrious, the average annual amount of sickness to the prisoners who are confined two years and a half is only about eight days to each person, which, for the average ages, is little above the standard obtained from the experience of the East India Company’s labourers. The sickness amongst the metropolitan police is about 10½ days per annum for each of the force, 2¾ per cent. being constantly on the sick-list. The sickness in the army is on the average 14½ days each soldier. Mr. Finlaison informs me he can venture to state, that were any benefit society to use scales of premiums founded on the prison experience, they would inevitably be insolvent in less than three years.

M. Villermé has shown the diminution of mortality that has taken place in the prisons of France, chiefly from stricter attention to cleanliness, ventilation, and diet, to be equally striking. At Lyons, from 1800 to 1806, the annual mortality in the prisons was 1 in 19; from 1806 to 1812, it was 1 in 31; from 1812 to 1819, it was 1 in 34; and from 1820 to 1826, 1 in 43: a similar amelioration has also been remarked in the prisons of Rouen, and some other large towns in that kingdom.

The following is a summary return of the diseases of the duration of each, amongst the population of the wynds, examined by Mr. Tait:—

┌───────────────────────────┬──────┬────────┬───────┬────────┬────────┐ │ NATURE OF DISEASE. │No. of│Average │No. of │ No. of │ No. of │ │ │Cases.│duration│Deaths.│Families│Persons │ │ │ │ of │ │visited.│visited.│ │ │ │Disease.│ │ │ │ ├───────────────────────────┼──────┼────────┼───────┼────────┼────────┤ │ │ │ Weeks. │ │ │ │ │Disease of Lungs │ 23│ 5½│ 1│ 117│ 335│ │Rheumatism │ 9│ 9│ │ │ │ │Accidents │ 9│ 4½│ │ │ │ │Erysipelas │ 3│ 8│ │ │ │ │Inflammation of Throat │ 3│ 5│ │ │ │ │Fever │ 15│ 5¼│ 1│ │ │ │Palsy │ 4│ │ 1│ │ │ │Dropsy │ 1│ 7│ │ │ │ │Disease of Liver │ 1│ │ │ │ │ │Jaundice │ 1│ 4│ │ │ │ │Carbuncle │ 1│ 5│ │ │ │ │Affection of Urinary Organs│ 1│ 17│ │ │ │ │Acute affection of Brain │ 2│ 3│ 1│ │ │ │Small-pox │ 2│ 5│ 1│ │ │ │Opthalmia │ 1│ 6│ │ │ │ │Whitlow │ 1│ 3│ │ │ │ │Lumbago │ 2│ 7│ │ │ │ │Eruptive disease │ 1│ 9│ │ │ │ │Inflammation of Stomach │ 1│ │ │ │ │ │Ague │ 1│ 4│ │ │ │ │Abscess of Loins │ 1│ 5│ │ │ │ ├───────────────────────────┼──────┼────────┼───────┼────────┼────────┤ │ Total │ 83│ │ 5│ 117│ 335│ └───────────────────────────┴──────┴────────┴───────┴────────┴────────┘

It may be safely pronounced that if such an amount of sickness were known to prevail in a prison containing between 300 and 400 prisoners, the circumstance would excite public alarm and attention.

Any of the preceding tables of the lower amounts of sickness may be taken as practicable standards of the extent to which it were possible, by the removal of the causes of disease, to bring the health of the labouring population.

I may here observe, that the tables of sickness above referred to exhibit the very unsatisfactory footing on which the means of insurance against sickness and mortality within the reach of the labouring classes are now placed. An artisan of the condition of the East India Company’s labourers who insures for an allowance for sickness between the age of 61 and 66 years, which, according to the experience of his own class, would be a period of 10 days, would have to pay for 20 days, or 10 days in excess if he insured on the tables of the experience of benefit societies in Scotland, or 23 days in excess if he insured on tables founded on the experience collected by Mr. Finlaison. On the other hand, were a benefit society composed of members living under depressed circumstances, as in close courts or ill-drained districts, to adopt the table of the experience of the East India Company’s labourers, and to take members, living under the circumstances indicated by the Highland societies or Mr. Finlaison’s tables, the allowance on such a rate of insurance would be fraught with certain and speedy loss of the funds of the contributors. Having received contributions for an allowance on the chances of 10 days’ sickness, they would, upon insurances from the wynds of Edinburgh, have to pay for 40 days. The range of variation in the chances of life in different districts, such as have been shown in the returns from the different towns, exhibiting the mortality amongst the different classes, all present instances of the ruin to which benefit societies are exposed in acting upon tables calculated only for select classes, or on the mean experience of large classes, or of many classes differing widely in their circumstances. The probabilities of life at infancy for the whole population of Liverpool, as deduced from the actual ages of deaths of the whole population, would be 17 years; but on the Northampton tables of probability, payment would be required for the insurance of 25 years at infancy; for 38 years according to the Carlisle table; and if a male, for 37 years, according to the Swedish table. Yet such are the data and their applications on which large masses of savings and property are frequently invested and made dependent in various forms of insurance in benefit societies. The ruin of such societies is, I lament to say, by no means an unfrequent occurrence. The most painful spectacle that is presented in a painful and difficult service is that of a hardworking, industrious labourer, who has lived frugally and saved rigidly, who in his old age is stripped of his savings and reduced to destitution. One such example is enough to destroy the frugality of a whole village, and of all the labourers to whom it is presented. The necessity of a revision of all the tables which govern the subscriptions to friendly societies and the allowances from them, is strongly suggested by the evidence. It is to be lamented that, before giving tables of sickness or mortality to the members of benefit societies, many of the actuaries who have advised them have made no inquiries as to the condition of the neighbourhoods where the members reside or as to their general circumstances. The best advice to the labourers for the future will, however, be proved to be, that the most safe, economical, and efficient outlay as an insurance, will be in their own contributions, in rates or extra rent where needful for the execution of sanitary measures.

The further example adverted to as to the efficiency of preventive measures, is furnished by the naval medical service.

So dreadful was once the condition of the navy that, in the year 1726, when Admiral Hosier sailed with seven ships of the line to the West Indies, he buried his ships’ companies twice, and died himself of a broken heart. Amongst the pictures then presented, as in Anson’s Voyages, 1740–44, were those of deaths to the amount of eight or ten a-day in a moderate ship’s company; bodies sewn up in hammocks and washing about the decks, for want of strength and spirit on the part of the miserable survivors to cast them overboard. Dr. Johnson, in the year 1778, thus describes a sea life:—“As to the sailor, when you look down from the quarter-deck to the space below, you see the utmost extremity of human misery; such crowding, such filth, such stench!” “A ship is a prison, with the chance of being drowned,—it is worse, worse in every respect; worse air, worse food, worse company.”

_Dr. Wilson_, in his preface to the Medical Returns, observes that, within the limits of the South American command, the Centurion, exactly a century ago, lost in a few weeks 200 out of 400 men by scurvy. During the years from 1830 to 1836, the British _squadron_ employed in South America, lost by diseases of every description only 115 out of 17,254 men. He observes—

“There is no reason to doubt that instead of every second man
perishing miserably within a few weeks, the rate of mortality might
have been as low as that exhibited in the South American Report, viz.,
one death annually by disease out of 150 men. Now there was nothing
new nor mysterious in the pestilence either as to its origin or its
essence: it was not a sudden climatorial influence which could not be
resisted nor understood; it was a well-known affection presenting all
the signs of utter prostration and pointing to pure debility as its
source, the effects principally of scanty, unwholesome, unvarying diet
and bad water—partly of inadequate attention to cleanliness, order,
and ventilation, and the nearly total neglect of systematic attention
to measures for amusing, cheering, and improving the mind with which
resulting despondency often cooperated. The remedy therefore would
appear to have been self-evident and at hand, not to the commanders of
ships and fleets, but to the administration. Information on many
points in the animal economy was certainly less exact than it is now,
and vague unfounded notions prevailed of necessary relations existing
between a sea-life and scurvy. Hence it may be concluded that
ignorance rather than inhumanity was the reason why effectual measures
were not long before adopted for the prevention of such terrible
calamities.”

He observes further that—

In 1779 the proportion dying was 1 in 8 of the employed.

In 1811 the proportion dying was 1 in 32 of the employed.

From 1830 to 1836 the average number dying annually was 1 in 72 of the
employed.

But—

“In this calculation, the deaths from all sources are included from
wounds, drowning, and all other external causes as well as from
disease. From the latter source the deaths were in the proportion of 1
to 85 of the number employed annually. When it is considered that the
ratio applies to the whole service, and therefore includes the most
unhealthy sections, the Coast of Africa and the West Indies, it will
be admitted, even without reference to former periods, to be very
low.”[34]

The scurvy, once so fatal in the navy, is now almost unknown in men-of-war, whilst it still prevails often to a most serious extent in the mercantile navy where the same care is not taken. It was a popular opinion in the navy, that the use of lemon juice in the grog was a specific against scurvy; but it is stated that the health of seamen has in some instances been advanced by the discontinuance of the grog itself, and the substitution of coffee. _Dr. Nisbett_ says, “I may state generally, that this substance (lemon juice) in the quantities usually issued (one ounce per diem) does not prevent the appearance of scurvy under circumstances favourable to its production; that in increased quantities it appears to have some power of arresting, at least for a time, this disease in its earlier stages, and is thus of great value; but that it is not to be considered an antidote, and that the only cure for this disease is a full diet of fresh meat and vegetables;” the preventives being, general and personal cleanliness, ventilation, and liberal supplies of good water, in addition to supplies of wholesome food.

The mortality of the home force ships employed chiefly in harbour duty, &c. (where of course they were not cut off from communication or means of infection from the shore,) in Great Britain and Ireland, gives the rate of mortality obtainable by sanitary means, even now confessedly imperfect especially in ventilation, amongst a male population ranging from 15 to 50 years of age, and may be taken as illustrative of the amount of health attainable on shore.

In 1830 the deaths in the navy from disease independently of external causes were—

Disease, per 1000. All Causes, per 1000.
1830 6·0 8·7
1831 11·5 3·4
1832 11·9 14·0
1833 6·3 7·9
1834 4·9 6·7
1835 5·9 7·2
1836 7·5 9·5

Mr. Finlaison has lately calculated that the deaths _on shore_ out of 1000 of the population of 29 years of age may be estimated at about 12 per annum. Mr. Rickman calculated that the deaths at that age in Essex and Rutland would be about 12½ persons per 1000 per annum: for the metropolis it would be about 15½ deaths. Out of 1000 workmen in the Government dock-yards, the number of deaths were 15; and hitherto in the metropolitan police force, which is more select than the navy, the number of deaths appear to be about 9 per annum; but about the same number of men is annually invalided from the force. The proportion of deaths amongst the troops appears to be, amongst the household cavalry, 14·5, amongst the dragoons 15·3, amongst the infantry in depôt, 18·5, and amongst the foot guards 21·6. Since the Guards have been in Canada the rate of mortality has been reduced to that of other regiments.

The health of the foot guards is believed to be affected by peculiar circumstances.

I may add, as respects soldiers, that by proper care such epidemics as typhus, scarlet fever, are now scarcely known as affecting large groups in the army, and that such an occurrence would denote to the chiefs of the army medical board the existence of some great neglect into which it would be necessary to make inquiry.

_Cost to tenants and owners of the public measures for drainage,
cleansing, and the supplies of water, as compared with the cost of
sickness._

Persons well acquainted with the inferior descriptions of tenements in Manchester state that a large proportion of them change owners in ten years, and that few remain in the same hands more than twenty years; and it is observed in other populous districts that this description of property most frequently changes hands. The chief obstacle to the execution of legislative measures for public improvements of tenements of the class in question in such districts has been, that large immediate outlays of capital have been required to be made in an inconvenient manner for permanent improvements, by persons possessing only short or transient interests, to whom no means are given for spreading the charge over longer periods of years to make it coincident with the benefits.

In reference to the structural arrangements which come within the public authority, the majority of professional persons the best acquainted with the description of tenements occupied by the poorer classes, and the importance of getting the work done, agree that it would, on the whole, be the most advantageous course to execute them, by loans paying interest on the security of the rates, and spread the charge over 30 years during which the original outlay should be repaid. This would allow of the annual instalment being charged in fair proportions to the tenant, and to the holders of short interests.

The outlay for the execution of measures which come within the public authority are those, 1, for bringing water on the premises; 2, for applying it to remove refuse by a cheap apparatus; 3, a drain for conveyance of the refuse to the (4) main drains or common sewer.

In the rural districts all these purposes of cleansing may, it is considered, be accomplished by means of a proper use of the rain-water; and that which is here given may be considered as a maximum estimate for _towns_, if the work be properly done by public contract on a large scale.

┌───────────────────────────┬──────────┬────────────┬──────────┐ │ │ │ │ Weekly │ │ │ │ │Charge to │ │ │ │ │ the │ │ │ │ Annual │Tenant, or│ │ │ Annual │ interest, │increased │ │ │Instalment│commuted at │ Rent, │ │First Outlay per Tenement. │ for │5 per cent. │being the │ │ │Repayment │ on Outlay │ 1/54th │ │ │in Thirty │ charged as │ part of │ │ │ Years. │ Rent on │the sum of│ │ │ │ Tenant. │the annual│ │ │ │ │instalment│ │ │ │ │and annual│ │ │ │ │interest. │ ├──────────────┬────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────┤ │ │£. _s._ _d._│_s._ _d._│£. _s._ _d._│ _d._ │ │Water-tank[35]│ │ │ │ │ │ and │10 8 6│ 6 11│ 0 6 8│ 3 │ │ apparatus │ │ │ │ │ │Sewer │ 5 12 0│ 3 9│ 0 3 6│ 1½ │ │Water │ │ │ 0 5 0│ 1 │ ├──────────────┴────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────┤ │ Total │ 10 8│ 0 15 2│ 5½ │ └───────────────────────────┴──────────┴────────────┴──────────┘

┌───────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┐ │ │ Total Outlay on One-third │ │First Outlay per Tenement. │ (1,148,282 inhabited houses) │ │ │ of the existing Tenements in │ │ │ England, Wales and Scotland. │ ├───────────────────────────┼──────────┬──────────┬────────┤ │ │ │ │ Annual │ │ │ │ │Interest│ │ │ │ Annual │commuted│ │ │ │Instalment│at 5 per│ │ │ First │ for │cent. on│ │ │ Outlay. │Repayment │ Outlay │ │ │ │in Thirty │charged │ │ │ │ Years. │as Rent │ │ │ │ │ on │ │ │ │ │Tenant. │ ├──────────────┬────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ │£. _s._ _d._│ £. │ £. │ £. │ │Water-tank[35]│ │ │ │ │ │ and │10 8 6│11,970,840│ 399,028│ 379,687│ │ apparatus │ │ │ │ │ │Sewer │ 5 12 0│ 6,430,379│ 214,346│ 203,957│ │Water │ │ │ │ │ ├──────────────┴────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Total │18,401,219│ 613,374│ 583,644│ └───────────────────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴────────┘

The above is a maximum estimate, and if the work be executed systematically by contract for districts, the charge may be so far reduced that it may be taken to include repairs, but if it were executed by each occupier or each owner separately, 15 per cent. must be added to the charge; and if, in addition to the separate charge incurred by neglect of legislative or administrative arrangements there be also incurred the ordinary fees of new surveyors of sewers, and new surveyors of buildings, paid by the ordinary fees, the charge for these structural improvements will be still further increased.

But the supplies of water for all the household purposes at the highest water company’s charges, which is 138 pailsful for less than 1¼_d._, is, in fact, to be considered a reduction of an existing expenditure of labour of fetching water.

The cost of cleansing privies is estimated as an existing charge in the metropolis and many towns of not less than 10_s._ per tenement annually. If the duty were duly performed the cost would perhaps be double that amount, and be equivalent to the whole of the proposed new expenditure; and taking the new expenditure as being less that charge, there only remains the cost of the new sewerage,—1½_d._ weekly, or 6_s._ 6_d._ annually. Supposing this charge of 1½_d._ weekly imposed upon the landlord, he will have to set against it the preservation of the tenement from dilapidation by drainage, which of itself would frequently repay the whole outlay. He has also the circumstance to consider that he may get better tenants by the improvement of his houses, and that with such tenants he will have more regular payments of rent. Protracted sickness and protracted losses of employment, and the frequent mortality caused by neglect of cleansing, occasion heavy losses to the owners, and occasion a greater diminution of the returns for such tenements than is commonly apparent.

One obstruction to any amendment by cleansing is occasioned by the circumstance that the laying on the water is considered a tenant’s charge, and the lower the class the more fluctuating the tenantry and the greater the reluctance of the tenant, and the less indeed are the means to make any immediate outlay for permanent purposes. To cast any immediate outlay on occupiers of this class, who have scarcely self-control to make reserves of the weekly rents, practically amounts to a prohibition of the work being done. That which will in extensive districts really be a new charge, _i. e._, sewerage, will fall only at the rate of the 1½_d._ per week per tenement, and as most tenements are now occupied in the more crowded districts, this will be a charge to be divided between two families. If it were properly distributed, it is an amount not to be spoken of as serious in the weekly charge.[36]

New charges, for improved house accommodation, as well as for sewerage and house cleansing, may all be submitted as means for the reduction of the existing heavy charges of sickness, and of the loss of work and loss of wages consequent upon sickness. To judge of the extent of the immediate charge of sickness in money and _time_, which is independent of the charge of insurance against premature death, we may select the case of an ordinary family, say of a man at 40, a wife at 30, and two children, who may be represented as equivalent to one child aged 15, the lowest age estimated in the insurance tables, which for an average family is an under estimate. Now to insure these a payment of 10_s._ per week each during sickness, the charges would be as follows, according to the insurance tables computed by Mr. Finlaison for the guidance of benefit societies.

┌───────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┐ │ Age │ For an allowance of 10_s._ per │ │ │week, during sickness, according to│ │ │ the Table constructed by Mr. │ │ │ Finlaison, the Actuary of the │ │ │ National Debt Office. │ ├───────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┬─────────────────┤ │ │Monthly Payment. │ Single Payment. │ ├───────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┤ │ │ £. _s._ _d._│ £. _s._ _d._│ │Man, 40 │ 0 2 11│ 27 5 2│ │Woman, 30 │ 0 1 11½│ 21 0 6│ │Child, 15 │ 0 1 3¼│ 14 18 1│ ├───────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┤ │Total per family │ 0 6 1¾│ 63 3 9│ ├───────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┤ │Total annual charge │ 3 13 9│ │ ├───────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┤ │Total weekly charge per family │ 0 1 5│ │ └───────────────────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┘

In the course of the Factory Commission of Inquiry in 1834, we ascertained that the wages of upwards of 40,000 employed in the cotton mills, of whom two-thirds were below the adolescent stage, amounted, on the average, to 10_s._ 5_d._ per week. Up to the beginning of the present year the wages of those in work were not lower. Mr. Finlaison’s table, therefore, will best represent the existing pecuniary charge of sickness from the loss of wages to a family in such a district in ordinary seasons of employment. The actual charge of sickness in _time_ lost every year, as represented by the experience of the sickness tables before cited, would be as follows:—

┌─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┐ │ Age. │Experience of│Experience of│ Mr. │ Experience │ │ │the Wynds of │ Benefit │ Finlaison. │ under │ │ │ Edinburgh. │Societies in │ │ Sanitary │ │ │ │ Scotland. │ │ Measures. │ ├─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤ │ │ Days, &c. │ Days, &c. │ Days, &c. │ Days, &c. │ │Man, 40 │ 15·1│ 6·9│ 9·2│ 2·75│ │Woman, 30 │ 11·0│ 4·2│ 6·33│ 2·10│ │Child, 15 │ 3·5│ 0·2│ 5·18│ 0·17│ ├─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤ │Total per │ 29·6│ 11·3│ 20·71│ 5·02│ │ family │ │ │ │ │ └─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┘

The experience of the effect of sanitary measures proves the possibility of the reduction of sickness in the worst districts to at least one-third of the existing amount. Amidst classes somewhat better situated, it were possible to reduce the sickness to less than one-third; it were an under estimate to take the probable reduction at one-half. Taking it, however, at one-half, by the new payment of 1½_d._, or say 2_d._, weekly for drainage, the occupants of the tenements will save 7½_d._ of the weekly contribution for an allowance of 10_s._ per week each during sickness. But the allowance insured to be paid during sickness only replaces the earnings: the sickness, besides its own misery, entails the expense of medical attendance, which, at the usual rate of insurance in medical clubs, would be 5_s._ or 6_s._ per annum for such a family. This would also be reduced one-half, making the total family saving at the least 9_d._ weekly. But the single payment for structural alterations is to be regarded as general, and as a means of affecting the whole of the objects for the whole of the population. For this 2_d._ each tenement, or 1_d._ each family, then, they will not only save double the weekly amount, but they will save, in the wear and tear of shoes and clothes, from having a well-drained and well-cleansed instead of a wet and miry district to traverse; they will also save the sickness itself, and each individual will gain a proportionate extension of a more healthy life. In a district where the wages are not one-half the amount above stated, the expenditure for efficient means of prevention would still leave a surplus of gain to the labourer.

These are the chief gains on the side of the labourer; but in general every labourer over and above what he consumes himself, produces enough to repay the interest on capital and cost of superintendence or the profits of the employer. The loss of this extra production is the loss of the community during the whole time the services of the labourer are abridged by sickness or death. To this loss is to be added, where the labourer has made no reserve, the loss of the cost of his unproductive maintenance as a pauper, and of medical attendance during sickness.

The existing insurance charge, then, represents the existing charge on the labouring classes from the loss of wages consequent on sickness; to which charge might be added the existing additional charge denoted by the insurance on account of the abridged duration of life and more frequent deaths. The aggregate charge for structural improvements, though amounting to so many millions as a first outlay, is still, for the reasons above stated, only a means of obtaining an incalculably greater gain. But it will be shown that the attainment of that gain is dependent on securities for the application of science to the efficient execution of the combined structural means of prevention. If these were to be no better than those in use in the greater part of the metropolis and the towns throughout the country, and the outlay for drainage were to be an outlay for receptacles to serve as the means of accumulating decomposing deposits, and as latent magazines of pestilential gases, to be themselves cleansed from time to time of the accumulations at a great expense, or to be discharged to pollute the natural streams of the country, then the aggregate expenditure would, to the amount of the inefficiency, be an aggregate of so many millions of money spent in waste.

The _immediate_ cost of sickness and loss of employment falls differently in different parts of the country, but on whatsoever fund it does fall, it will be a gain to apply to the means of prevention that fund which is and must needs otherwise continue to be more largely applied to meet the charge of maintenance and remedies. Admitting, however, as a fact the misconception intended to be obviated, that the necessary expense of structural arrangements will be an immediate charge instead of an immediate means of relief to the labouring classes;—in proof that they have, in ordinary times, not only the means of defraying increased public rates but increased rents, I refer to the fact that the amount expended in ardent spirits (exclusive of wines), tobacco, snuff, beer, &c., consumed chiefly by them, cannot be much less than from 45,000,000_l._ to 50,000,000_l._ per annum in the United Kingdom. By an estimate which I obtained from an eminent spirit merchant, of the cost to the consumer of the British spirits on which duty is paid, the annual expenditure on them alone, chiefly by the labouring classes, cannot be less than 24,000,000_l._ per annum. If visible evidence of the means of payment were needed I would point to every gin-palace in the metropolis, or to similar places throughout the country, which are chiefly supported from the expenditure of the class of persons who are overcrowded and lodge most wretchedly, and its duty-paying building materials represents a portion of the money available as rent for abodes of comparative comfort. The cost of one dram per week would nearly defray the expense of the structural arrangements of drainage, &c., by which some of the strongest provocatives to the habit of drunkenness would be removed. In illustration of the extent of the means of defraying such expenses, even in some of the poorer districts, I would cite the following statement of the minister of the parish of Stevenston, in Ayrshire, given in the last statistical account from that parish:—

“When the survey by the present incumbent was completed in 1836, the
population stood as follows:—

Number of families 833
Number of population 3681.”

The report further states—

“There are in the parish no less than 33 inns, and public-houses, and
whisky-shops. A few inns are needed for the accommodation of
travellers, and for the transaction of business; but the rest serve as
so many decoys to lure and destroy the thoughtless in their
neighbourhood. The sale of spirits in grocers’ shops has had a most
pernicious influence, especially on the female part of the community,
who, when there is no danger of detection, are tempted to add a dram
to the other commodities purchased. But the most pernicious practice
is that of several families clubbing that they may drink together
cheaply in one of their own houses; for in this way husbands, wives,
and children all share in the debauch, and drunken habits are
perpetuated from generation to generation.

“We are grieved and ashamed to mention the sum annually expended in
this parish for ardent spirits. We have learned from the
excise-officer of the district the quantity sold in it last year; and
without taking into account what is bought at a distance for the use
of private families, and exclusive also of all that is expended for
wine, and ale, and porter, and beer, and calculating at a rate greatly
below the retail price the quantity of ardent spirits sold in the
parish, it amounts to the enormous sum of 4125_l._”

This is nearly at the rate of 5_l._ a-year per family for ardent spirits alone. To give another example:—

In the town of Bury, with an estimated population of 25,000, the expenditure in beer and spirits is estimated at 54,190_l._, annually, or 2_l._ 3_s._ 4_d._ for each man, woman, and child, a sum that would pay the rent and taxes for upwards of 6770 new cottages at 8_l._ per annum each. But on an inquiry made from house to house by the agency of the Manchester Statistical Society into the condition of the labouring population of this town, with such an expenditure on one source of dissipation and ill-health, it appeared that of 2755 of their dwellings examined, only 1668 were decidedly comfortable; that a smaller number were well furnished; that the number of families in which there were less than two persons sleeping in one bed were only 413; that the number in which on the average there were more than two persons to a bed was 1512; that the number of families who had not less than _three_ persons in a bed and less than four, was 773; that the number of families in which there were “at least four persons, but less than five persons to one bed,” was 207. There were 63 families where there were at least five persons to one bed; and there were some in which even six were packed in one bed, lying at the top and bottom—children and adults. Similar results as to misapplied means and numbers crowded together would be ascertained from similar inquiries into the state of the population in other districts.

Any measures must commend themselves to public support that would effect in the application of the immense fund expended in ardent spirits alone, a change for assured physical comforts and undoubted moral advantages of the highest order. Admitting the validity of statements often made and seldom proved in ordinary times, but which nevertheless may occur, of classes of labourers reduced to the minimum of subsistence, that their wages will not admit of any change of application, then another set of considerations would arise, namely, whether the increased charges for new tenements, or for improvement of the existing tenements, will not compel an advance of wages, and thence be charged in the cost of the commodity produced? And whether if the trade will not allow such advanced wages, the amount of misery of the labouring classes is not really increased by exemptions or legislative facilities, which allow the trade to be carried on only at the expense of the health, the morality and the comfort of the labourers engaged in it, and also at the expense of the ratepayers in providing against the casualties of sickness and mortality?

These, however, are questions that appear to be less likely to occur practically to any important extent than may be supposed. The general difficulty would apparently be with the habits of the adults, who will, to use the illustration presented in a portion of evidence previously cited, “prefer the gin” to the best accommodation that can be offered to them.[37]

Whilst there is such evidence as that above cited to show that there is in ordinary times no real need, there is much evidence to show the impolicy of any exemptions from the payment of properly distributed charges for the requisite public improvement. In general labourers have been losers by exemptions from charges on their tenements, and scarcely in any instance have gained even by exemptions from the payment of their contributions to the poor’s rates.

The effect of administrative proceedings on the condition of the dwellings of large portions of the labouring classes, and thence on the condition of the labourers, is, under varied circumstances, adverted to in the local reports on their sanitary condition, and it is shown that the former parochial administration has operated mischievously in degrading the habitations of the labouring classes, or in checking tendencies to improvement.

The mode by which the condition of the dwellings of the labouring classes has been most extensively deteriorated in England, has been by the facility afforded to owners of cottage tenements, usually when acting as administrators of the Poor Law, to get their own tenants excused from the payment of rates. The legal ground for exemption was, not the value of the tenement, but the destitution or inability of the tenant to pay; but inasmuch as the occupation of a well-conditioned tenement, or of a tenement in advance of others, would be popularly considered _primâ facie_ evidence of ability to pay rates, the cottage speculator would not be at the expense to present evidence against the exemption by which he would gain. The general tenor of the evidence is, that the exempted tenements are of a very inferior order, and that the rents collected for them are exorbitant, and such as ought to ensure tenements of a higher quality.

Such residences appear to come in competition very rarely, and, viewed with reference to the place of work, the habitations of the labouring classes in the manufacturing towns extensively partake of the nature of monopolies, and hence the landlord is enabled to exact a price for position, independently of the character or quality of the building, or of the extent of outlay upon it. Where there is any choice, the labouring classes are generally attracted to these tenements by the promise of exemption from the payment of poor’s rates, and are deluded into the payment of a proportionately higher rent. (See the evidence on this subject taken before the House of Commons’ Committee on the Rating of Cottage Tenements in 1838; Questions 1103; 1106; 1222; 1377; 1403; 1504–7; 1637–8; 1594; 2269; 2271; 3124; 2234–5; 2240; 2279; 3106; 3723–4; 3920; 4054; 4071.)

The depressing effect of such exemptions is illustrated by the effect of their withdrawal, in cases where the inmates were not only excused from the payment of rates, but from the payment of rents, as in the instance of the parish cottages. The sales of cottage tenements held by the parish have formed a part of the business of this Commission since its commencement. The effects of the removal of the exemption from the payment of rent consequent upon the sale are generally described as beneficial. The tenor of the evidence on this subject is conveyed in a communication from the _Rev. Charles Turner_, the chairman of the Tenbury union, quoted in Sir Edmund Head’s report:—

“Mr. Turner also says, ‘When the parish property has been sold, a vast
improvement in the external appearance of the cottages has taken
place, and consequently a higher rent is demanded, and frequently
obtained.’ We thus see one proof, among many, that the sales of parish
property which have taken place under the orders of the Commissioners
have been beneficial to the public at large; a vast mass of small
buildings (amounting, for instance, in the Bromyard union only, to no
less than the net worth of 3643_l._) has been withdrawn from a state
of dilapidation and decay and thrown into the market. Money has been
expended on it; it has been put into tenantable and proper repair, and
all parties have found their interest in the change. To the parish it
formerly yielded nothing. The pauper lived on in filth and
wretchedness, in a hovel of which he did not dare to complain, because
he held it by sufferance; and the community at large were deprived of
an opportunity for a profitable outlay of capital on tenements thus
kept in mortmain of the worst kind. Such an outlay would not have
taken place unless it promised a return, that is to say, unless the
class for whose reception the cottages are fitted could in all
probability pay for the improved accommodation. With regard to parties
living in their own houses, Mr. Turner says, ‘There are many poor
persons living in their own cottages, which are of a very inferior
description, wretchedly comfortless, and have only one floor. They are
decidedly worse than those which are rented, both as to accommodation
and state of repairs; but these, for the most part, have been built on
the waste and unenclosed land.’”

The mischievous effect of exemptions from rating on the ground of poverty, in bringing down buildings to the exempted scale, and in preventing advances beyond it, is strikingly displayed in Ireland, where all houses not exceeding the value of 5_l._ are exempted from contribution to the county cess. The general consequence is that, the farmers’ residences throughout the country are kept down to the level of mere cottages or inconvenient hovels, to avoid passing the line of contribution, and only pass it by indulgent or evasive valuations. But the supposed exemption (which, if it be not often made up by increased rent, is a circumstance peculiar to the smaller holdings in that country)—an exemption which no doubt was procured as a boon, was productive of further ill effects to the parties intended to be benefited.[38] Being kept by the immediate expense and the fear of their share of the tax to thatched roofs, these thatched roofs afforded facilities to incendiarism, since any one might put a cinder in the thatch, and run away without detection; hence it has placed the inmates so far under continued terror in disturbed times, that it would frequently have been worth the expense of putting on a slate roof as a measure of preventive police. The depression of the tenement is practically a depression of the habits and condition of the inhabitants.

I may assume that it has been proved that the labouring classes do possess the means of purchasing the comforts of superior dwellings, and also that they are not benefited by exemptions from the immediate charges wherever requisite to defray the expense of those superior comforts.

I shall now show how little it is in the power of these classes voluntarily to obtain these improvements,—setting aside entirely the consideration of the obstacles arising from depraved habits already formed.

The workman’s “location,” as it is termed, is generally governed by his work, near which he must reside. The sort of house, and often the particular house, may be said to be, and usually is, a monopoly. On arriving at manhood in a crowded neighbourhood, if he wishes to have a house, he must avail himself of the first vacancy that presents itself; if there happen to be more houses vacant than one, the houses being usually of the same class, little range of choice is thereby presented to him. In particular neighbourhoods near Manchester, and in other parts of the county of Lancaster, in some other manufacturing and in some rural districts, instances occur of the erection of improved ranges of larger and better constructed houses for the labouring classes; and, making deduction for the occasional misuse of the increased space by subdividing them and overcrowding them with lodgers, the extent to which these improved tenements are sought, and the manner in which an improved rent is paid, afford gratifying evidence of an increasing disposition prevalent amongst artisans to avail themselves of such improvements. These opportunities, however, are comparatively few, and occur in districts where multitudes continue in the most depressed condition, apparently without any power of emerging from it.

The individual labourer has little or no power over the internal structure and economy of the dwelling which has fallen to his lot. If the water be not laid on in the other houses in the street, or if it be unprovided with proper receptacles for refuse, it is not in the power of any individual workman who may perceive the advantages of such accommodations to procure them. He has as little control over the external economy of his residence as of the structure of the street before it, whether it shall be paved or unpaved, drained, or undrained. It may be said that he might cleanse the street before his own door. By some local acts the obligation to do so is imposed on the individual inhabitants. By those inhabitants who have servants this duty may be and is performed, but the labourer has no servant; all of his family who are capable of labour are out a-field, or in the manufactory or the workshop, at daybreak, and return only at nightfall, and this regulation therefore is unavoidably neglected.

Under the slavery of the existing habits of labourers, it is found that the faculty of perceiving the advantage of a change is so obliterated as to render them incapable of using, or indifferent to the use of, the means of improvement which may happen to come within their reach. The sense of smell, for instance, which generally gives certain warning of the presence of malaria or gases noxious to the health, appears often to be obliterated in the labourer by his employment. He appears to be insensible to anything but changes of temperature, and there is scarcely any stench which is not endured to avoid slight cold.

It would have been matter of sincere congratulation to have met with more extensive evidence of spontaneous improvement amongst the classes in receipt, of high wages, but nearly all the beneficial changes found in progress throughout the country are changes that have arisen from the efforts of persons of the superior classes. Inquiries have been made for plans of improved tenements, but none have been found which can be presented as improvements originating with the class intended to be accommodated. In the rural districts, the worst of the new cottages are those erected on the borders of commons by the labourers themselves. In the manufacturing districts, the tenements erected by building clubs and by speculating builders of the class of workmen, are frequently the subject of complaint, as being the least substantial and the most destitute of proper accommodation. The only conspicuous instances of improved residences of the labouring classes found in the rural districts are those which have been erected by opulent and benevolent landlords for the accommodation of the labourers on their own estates; and in the manufacturing districts, those erected by wealthy manufacturers for the accommodation of their own workpeople.

As in England so in Scotland, the most important improvements have been effected through enlightened landlords. The members of the Highland Society, who have made the best exertions for improving the condition of the labouring population in the rural districts, and have offered prizes for the best-constructed cottages and the best plans, competition being open to all parties, got nothing from the lower classes, and only succeeded in exciting the interest of the most intelligent proprietors, and getting improvements effected through their exertions. Mr. Loudon, in an appeal on behalf of the agricultural labourers, lays it down as a primary position that, “In general, proprietors ought not to entrust the erection of labourers’ cottages on their estates to the farmers, as it is chiefly owing to this practice that so many wretched hovels exist in the best cultivated districts of Scotland and Northumberland.”

_Employers’ influence on the Health of Workpeople by means of improved
Habitations._

Preparatory to the exposition of the means of protection of the public health provided by the existing law, and of the modifications that appear to be requisite for the attainment of the object in question, I would submit for consideration practical examples of its partial attainment by means of improved dwellings; combined with examples of other improvements effected in the moral condition of the labouring classes, by the judicious exercise of the influence possessed by their superiors in condition.

Throughout the country examples are found of a desire, on the part of persons of the higher class, to improve the condition of the poorer classes by the erection of dwellings of a superior order for their accommodation. These, however, are generally at a cost beyond any return to be expected in the present state of the habits of the people in the shape of rent, or any return in money for an outlay on an ordinary investment of capital. But the instances about to be noticed, though generally originating in benevolence, and without the expectation of a return, do, in the results, prove that in money and money’s worth, the erection of good tenements affords the inducement of a fair remuneration to the employers of labour to provide improved accommodation for their own labourers.

Wherever it has been brought under observation, the connexion of the labourer’s residence with his employment as part of the farm, or of the estate, or of the manufactory on which he is employed, and as part of the inducement to service, appears to be mutually advantageous to the employer and the employed. The first advantages are to the person employed.