In St. George-in-the-East (1856), "it is astonishing how few houses have availed themselves of the sewers." In Paddington, "the condition of the house-drains is far worse than that of the sewers. They include every possible variety of geometrical construction, from a circle to a square. Some have fallen in; others are choked with filth." In Lewisham (1856-7), "in several places there are reported to be nuisances of the usual character ... cesspools, no water, &c.--stinking ditches filled with sewage which can get no further--every abomination, and people apparently doing what they pleased as regards getting rid of their filth." Nor was it only in the poorer parts of London that the house-drainage was bad. In St. James' (Westminster) the Medical Officer of Health wrote (1861):-- "For the last two or three years the worst cases of neglected drainage have not been in houses inhabited by the poor, but in those inhabited by the wealthier classes of the community. It is to me frequently a matter of great astonishment to find how regardless those classes are, whose circumstances can command every comfort of life, of the sources of disease and death. This is not only seen in neglect of attention to drainage, but also in the neglect of ventilation." Nor was care being taken to provide drainage even to houses which were in course of erection. The Medical Officer of Health for Hackney, which was a growing district, reported (1858-9):-- "Building operations have recently been carried on with considerable activity, numerous new streets have been laid out and built on.... Unfortunately there have not been, and there are not at the present time, any means whereby the construction of proper drainage works could be enforced before the erection of buildings along the line of new streets, and the consequence has been that, to avoid the heavy cost of constructing effective sewers, the drainage works have been almost everywhere but very imperfectly carried out, and in many cases not even a brick has been laid for these purposes." The internal condition of the houses was very bad. In Clerkenwell, where there were over 7,000 houses, many of them were "quite unfit for human habitation"; not more than one-third were "in a satisfactory state." In Bethnal Green there were "disease-inviting houses"; in Whitechapel, such was the bad condition of many of the 2,734 houses which were inspected, that "they ought to be condemned as unfit for human habitation." In St. George-in-the-East, "the sanitary condition of the dwelling-houses is deplorable." Lambeth contained a greater number of inhabited houses than any other parish in the metropolis--nearly 22,000. The Medical Officer of Health, after the very limited inquiry possible within the first year of work, reported the unwholesome condition of 1,638 of them.