A return of the Sanitary Works carried out in those towns to which the Public Health Act has been applied, was laid on the table of the House of Commons, on the 12th of April last, and ordered to be printed (No. 176, Session 1866). In view of the threatened Epidemic, however, the unusual labour cast upon the Local Government Office,—now charged with the superintendence of Local Boards of Health,—must render it improbable that time can be found to examine the proof of this important return before the end of the Session.

At this still early period in the progress of Sanitary Reform, any such return must be manifestly imperfect; yet it will probably be found that ten times the sum mentioned in the text^[39] is already known to have been expended on these works; and previous returns show that about a million and a half sterling has, in addition, been laid out in the provision of Extramural Cemeteries.

The effect of these measures, in reducing the mortality of the population, cannot of course be calculated at present with any degree of accuracy; because no statistics of this nature can be reliable, unless based upon an average of many years. It will, nevertheless, be exceedingly interesting to watch the results of these improvements in the civilization of England; improvements which have been, perhaps, mainly effected by the labours of Dr Southwood Smith.

That such Sanitary appliances are not yet all that could be wished in many of our larger towns, is abundantly exhibited by the following extract from the Quarterly Report of the Registrar-General for January, February, and March, 1866.

“If the map of England were shaded to represent the rates of mortality of last quarter in the registration districts, the eye, travelling from the lighter south to the darker north, would be instantly drawn to a spot of portentous darkness on the Mersey; and the question would be asked whether cholera, the black death, or other plague, imported with bales of merchandise, had been lately introduced into its busy and populous seaport. Happily this has not been the case; but fever, probably developed or aided by the mild and damp atmosphere of the season, and by overcrowding in an increasing population, has been busy and fatal in Liverpool, and in other towns of the same county and of Yorkshire. The annual mortality of the borough of Liverpool in the three months was excessive, and demands immediate and earnest consideration; it rose to 4.593 per cent. This implies that if this death-rate were maintained for a year, 46 persons out of 1000 in the population would die in that time, or 15 more than died in Glasgow, its northern rival, 19 more than in London. The mortality in the city of Manchester, though far less than that of Liverpool, was higher than in any other of the 13 selected towns of the United Kingdom; it was 3.742 per cent.; and that of Leeds was hardly less.”