A COLLIERY VILLAGE
Skelmersdale is a colliery village having a population of 4000, lying between Wigan and Ormskirk. An inquiry has been recently held there by the Local Government Board on a Memorial for the adoption of the Local Government Act in the place. The statements made in evidence as to the condition of the village show that, even among colliery villages, Skelmersdale must have a pre-eminence in filth.

The houses, many of the most miserable construction, almost buried amidst the filth of their inhabitants; the privies so foul as to repel even those most familiarised with them; the drainage accumulated in horrible puddles, fed also by the liquid abominations of pigstyes and middensteads. The approach to one group of houses is described as "very narrow and ankle-deep in mud," and the reporter adds of this group:- "There are large accumulations of night-soil and manure from pigstyes, the drainage from which I saw running over the surface and lodging within a few feet of the back doors of the houses.
The tenants have great difficulty in getting rid of the night-soil, ashes, etc., as the farmers will only fetch them when it suits their convenience. There are four wells in connexion with this property. In all cases they are close to cesspools (one being within four feet), privies, pigstyes, or large heaps of ashes, etc.

The water, of course, is wholly unfit for use. I was told that during dry weather rain water was so precious that it has to be taken into the house to prevent it from being stolen." An outbreak of diphtheria was in progress at the time of the inquiry.
Not a single one of the facts stated as to the horrible condition of the place appears to have been disputed, yet a report of the inspector of nuisances for the rural sanitary authority was referred to, in which that official said that "most of the nuisances in Skelmersdale had been abated to his satisfaction"!