Up to the present time (1855) there are under this Act 196 towns, containing a population of upwards of 2¼ millions. In about 50 of these towns, however, nothing has yet been done.
Eleven towns, with a population of about half a million, have adopted the powers of the Act in subsequent local acts.
Works of drainage and water supply are completed, or are in an advanced state, in 70 towns.
Mortgages have been sanctioned—
| For drainage works and water supply, | nearly 1¾ millions sterling; |
| For private works of drainage and water supply, | about £45,000; |
| For paving, street improvements, &c., | about £200,000; |
Making a total of nearly two millions sterling devoted to sanitary improvement.[[24]]
[24]. This has been since greatly increased: see Appendix, p. 129. [Ed.]
It is difficult at present to give the average cost of these combined and complete sanitary works; but the total expense for public and private works of drainage and water supply for houses of from £10 to £20 per annual rental, may be taken at 4d. per week per house.
The great obstacle to sanitary progress is the fear of rates, not so much on the part of the poor, who gladly pay for the improvements, but on the part of the owners of small tenements, by whom chiefly opposition is raised to the application of this Act.
In the town of Alnwick, public and private works of sewerage and drainage have been completed. There have been laid down about twenty miles of sewers and drains, and seventeen miles of apparatus for water supply, at a total cost, for the combined works, of 4d. per week per house for the term of thirty years; after the expiration of which period the cost of the works, both principal and interest, will have become liquidated, and the only expense thereafter will be for maintenance.