The Sanitary Evolution of London

by Henry Jephson

There is a third sphere of government in matters pertaining to the public health—namely, that occupied by the State. It is charged with many duties connected with the public health, and is in close relationship with the various central and local authorities in London. It has undergone large changes since the middle of the last century.

At that time some of the powers possessed by the State Government in health matters were exercised by one of the Secretaries of State. Others, for some years, through the General Board of Health appointed by the Government. In 1858, when that Board ceased to exist, some of its powers were transferred to the Privy Council, others lapsed to the local sanitary authorities.

So great, as time went on, was the development of local government throughout the country, and so essential was it to have some central government State supervision over the largely increased number of local sanitary authorities, that in 1871 a new Government Department, the Local Government Board, was created to perform this work. To it were transferred most of the powers in connection with sanitation and health matters possessed by the State Government, and the various authorities in London came more or less under its supervision. Since then, as the sanitary needs of the community grew, and as legislation became more voluminous, fresh duties have been constantly imposed upon that Board.

Summing up these changes, and their broad effects, it is to be said that the machinery for the administration of the sanitary laws in London is undoubtedly far more potent and effective than it has been at any previous time. Instead of the Vestries and District Boards there are now the Borough Councils; instead of the Metropolitan Board of Works there is the London County Council; instead of the Privy Council and Board of Health there is the Local Government Board, whilst the Metropolitan Asylums Board and the Water Board had no predecessors.

But on the other hand the system now in existence is very complex, and in many ways cumbersome, and in recent years there has been a most unfortunate tendency on the part of Parliament to revert to that which was the curse of London before the Act of 1855—the multiplicity of local authorities—all of them, too, with separate rating powers.

So far, then, in the way of the machinery of local government has London come on its way to an improved condition of the public health.

And Parliament, as has been narrated, had, since 1855, multiplied the health laws, which these bodies were charged with the administration of. Then, the passing of an Act dealing with matters affecting the public health was so rare as to constitute a remarkable event. Now Acts of Parliament and “Provisional Orders” as to health matters are quite common events.

With such numerous laws covering so many phases of the public health, with so much larger and more powerful a machinery for their administration, the crucial point of all is the administration of those laws by the various authorities. It is obvious that the administration is much more searching and effective and wide-reaching than it has ever been before.

The Central Authority, the London County Council, has done great work, as has already been shown, in extending and maintaining the efficiency of the drainage system of London, in the clearance of insanitary areas, and the erection of houses for the working classes; in the acquisition of open spaces, in great street improvements, in its efforts to help towards a solution of the great housing problem by the facilities of traffic it has created by its tramways, in the inquiries it has instituted into the insanitary condition of various districts in London, in the unifying of administration by the local sanitary authorities, and in many other ways too numerous to be recited. It has, in fact, vigorously used such powers as it possessed.

The Metropolitan Asylums Board has also used its powers effectively, having erected hospitals, and having each year successfully isolated and treated many thousands of cases of infectious and contagious disease.