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Victoria Road - Victoria Road
Disproving the Miasma Theory
Although Victorians had begun to realise the link between living conditions and poverty, many people still believed in the erroneous 'miasma theory', the idea that disease was carried through the air by fumes from decaying waste. Consequently, they believed that the problems of alleys like the ones in Wellington could be solved by better ventilation and cleansing. It was not until the later years of the 19th Century that reformers began to realise living conditions could only be improved by better sanitation and housing, which led to the introduction of many local rules and regulations to provide new homes for working people. In Wellington, this led to the opening of Victoria Street (now Victoria Road) in 1888 and the town's first council houses, which were erected in Regent Street during the 1890s.