TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 181 



the efficient drainage of the whole to-n-n, and that an act of Parliament rendering 

 the purchase of private sewers not only permissive but compulsory on the Com- 

 missioners would remove an existing anomaly, and be to the eventual benefit of lie 

 town at large. In the tanks to v^hich the sewerage is now conducted the solids 

 are separated and mixed with town ashes to form manure, while the liquid portiors 

 are passed, after very partial deodorization, into the streams, which are rendered 

 excessively foul by the subsequent decomposition of the filth. 



The streams within the town are thus kept comparatively pm-e, but the mills 

 on the Chelt render its streams intermittent, and interfere with the scour in its 

 channel. 



The water supply is derived in part from the sandbed on which the town is built, 

 in part from the rainfall of the hills. That from the sandbed is usually preferred 

 for drinking purposes, but it is extremely hard, containing 36 to 80 grs. per gallon. 

 That from the hills contains 11 to 12 gi-s. per gallon. 



The first act for bringing hill water to the town was obtained by the water 

 company in 1824. In 1849 the amount supplied was 72i gals, per house daily ; 

 at the present time all information is denied by the company, but it is hoped tlut 

 their enero:etic measures, combined with the anxiety of the Town's Commissioners 

 on the subject, may result in an additional supply of wholesome water, sufficient 

 not only for household pui-poses, but for public washhouses and baths, which are 

 justly considered at the present day as among the most essential of sanitary re- 

 quirements. 



The population of Cheltenham in 1861 was 36,693 — males being to females as 

 100 to 138 — the proportion for England and Wales being 100 to 105. The growth 

 of the town is still double the natural increase due to excess of births over deaths ; 

 and greater than that of the inland watering places generally, in the ratio of 13-24 

 to 7'28 per cent. The social conditions of Cheltenham are peculiar, and affect in 

 a remarkable manner the census returns for certain periods of life. The tables 

 produced showed the large accession to the population during the school period, 

 between the ages of 10 and 20 ; whilst the absence of anj^ large manufacturing or 

 commercial industries in the town, and the consequent departure of the boys on 

 leading school, will account in part for the enormous preponderance of females 

 (190 to 100 males) between the ages of 20 or 30 : other causes doubtless contribute 

 to this result, but that they are acting chietiy among the higher classes is evident 

 from the fact that in St. Peter's eccle.siastical district, which is occupied by the 

 very poor, the males in 1861 were actually in excess of the females. During the 

 later periods of life numbers flock to the town in search of health and the social 

 advantages for which it has acquired a reputation ; and it is no easj-task to balance 

 accurately the effects of these two sources of addition to the population from with- 

 out — one tending materially to decrease, the other to augment the liability to 

 disease and death. The proximity of great wealth to great poverty is nowhere so 

 marked as in a watering place, and Cheltenham is no exception to the rule. The 

 absence of any large manufacturing industry, and the dependence of the poorer 

 classes on the capricious expenditure of their richer neighbours, cannot fail to cause 

 fluctuations in the labour market most injurious to the independence and self- 

 reliance of the working classes. In Cheltenham this is strongly felt, and the large 

 extent of pauperism existing may in part be due to this cause. The great wealth 

 and pecidiar nature of the occupations in Cheltenham is seen from the fact, that 

 whilst the houses 



per cent. per cent, 



under £5 in England and Wales 18, in Cheltenham, 3 

 Above £5 and „ £10 „ „ 34 „ 33 



„ £10 „ £50 „ „ 44 „ 47 



„ £50 „ £100 „ „ 3 „ 11 



„ £100 and upwards „ » 1 » • 6 



Average rental England and Wales . . £15 5s, 

 „ Cheltenham , . . £25 7s. 



As compared with Clifton, the numbers of the following classes, in every 10,000 

 living, were in 1861 



