General Board of Health, Whitehall,
July 1, 1857.
"Sir,
On the 20th of April last a petition was received by this Board from the Portmadoc district of the Parish of Ynys-Cynhaiarn, praying for a preliminary inquiry under the Public Health Act 1848. On investigation it was ascertained that this petition had not emanated from a place having a known and defined boundary, as is required by the Act of Parliament; it was therefore sent back in order that sufficient number of signatures might be affixed to it, so as to extend the inquiry to the whole parish of Ynyscynhaiarn. On the 11th day of May last the petition was received in its amended form by this Board, and I have the honour of receiving your instruction to hold the inquiry. caused the ordinary notices to be inserted in the North Wales Chronicle, and the Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald, both published on the 23 of May, and copies of the same were also posted at all Public Buildings, and other places, where notices relating to public matters are usually affixed within the district to which the inquiry related. 12 o'clock at noon on the 10th day of June was the time fixed for the meeting. By some error the place fixed for holding the inquiry was stated in the notices sent to the newspapers, to be the Town Hall Tremadoc, while on the notices affixed to the public buildings, it was the Town Hall Portmadoc. Immediately on finding out this mistake, I opened the proceedings formally at the Town Hall Tremadoc, in the presence of David Williams and Samuel Holland, Esqrs., and at once adjourned it to the Town Hall Portmadoc, where I had the pleasure of meeting the following ratepayers. Messrs. Samuel Holland, David Williams, David Homfray, Edward Breese, S. Jones, Robert Griffith, Robert Jones, E. W. Mathew, David Richards, McMoran, William Morris, Jones, Surgeon, and medical officer of the Union.
The general state of the district was described by several of the gentlemen present as being very much in want of improved drainage and water supply.
David Williams, Esq., the representative of a very considerable proportion of the property within the Parish stated:—
That there is no systematic sewerage whatever. About twelve months since a sewer was made in one of the worst parts of the town under the Nuisance Removal Act, that Sewer is being extended at the present time. The want of proper sewerage has caused very much disease. The Water Supply is very bad in quality, and very deficient in quantity. Many persons pay as much as 1/- per week for fetching better water from a distance. Indeed they have to go across the boundary of Carnarvon into Merionethshire for it. An excellent supply of water is to be obtained from a lake above Tremadoc at a height of from 400 to 500 feet above the general level of the place. It is called Cwmbach. The Nuisance Removal Act has been partially
