492 The Public Health. [Oct., 
The sanitary affairs of the town are supposed to be regulated 
by three Acts of Parliament, to which may now be added the much 
needed Sanitary Act of 1866. The last local Improvement Act 
gaye power to appoint a medical officer, to provide open spaces for 
recreation, which are much needed in Leeds, to open out new 
streets, and to effect numerous other improvements. 
The water-supply is very unsatisfactory. It is pumped up 
from the river Wharfe into large reservoirs and thence distributed 
to Leeds, but is contaminated by the drainage of Otley and other 
small neighbouring towns. Although it is well filtered and does 
not show much impurity on analysis, the public feeling is very 
strong against it, and steps are being taken to draw a supply from 
other sources. 
Leeds suffers in a marked degree from all the nuisances with 
which our large towns are infested, to wit: Cellar dwellings; over- 
crowding, which has subjected it to serious outbreaks of typhus ; 
insufficient conveniences, In same cases situated under the bedrooms; 
in other cases, twenty to thirty families use one convenience! And 
in others again, they have none at all! This is a wide-spread and 
ee evil in Leeds, demoralizing to the mind and injurious to 
the body. 
The becks” are miniature Clydes, but of course much more 
dangerous, containing dead dogs and refuse; and the river is also 
contaminated with the refuse of human beings and manufactories. 
The outlet of the sewage below the town is a shocking place ; there 
the Cattle Plague commenced and there it obstinately continued. 
Then there, are “back to back” houses in great numbers; 
insufficient trapping of sewers, for want of water in dry weather, 
and the traps are generally choked up and useless. The sewers 
are imperfectly flushed, indeed it is a question whether they are 
ever flushed at all. Pigs are kept in large numbers in the town; 
the boiling down of fat, offal, &c., is also carried on within the 
boundary. 
There is, as already stated, a great want of open places ; many 
closed streets, alleys, squares, and cul-de-sacs need to be broken 
through, to provide circulation for the air, which does not now 
exist. The ashpits are inefficiently cleared; a large ashpit will 
sometimes be allowed to accumulate for six months or longer. The 
cleansing of the pavements is greatly neglected. Many houses, not 
cellars, are quite unfit for habitation, and those are often very 
much overcrowded with Irish. The lodging-houses are pretty 
well looked after ; not so the public-houses and abodes of ill-fame. 
The supply of meat is insufficiently overlooked. Much very bad 
meat finds its way into the markets, which is said to pass muster 
on account of its appearance, whilst it has been found on the post- 
mortem examination of the animals to show evidences of disease. 
