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satisfactory to find that they have been effected without the necessity
for any appeal to the law. In addition to these, the slaughterhouses
were examined and specially reported on as usual previously
to the renewal of their owners' licenses; and it should be stated
that much sanitary work, such as the cleansing and emptying of
cesspools, the removal of filth, and other nuisances, has been effected
through the representation of your Surveyor and myself, without
the necessity for reporting to the Board, and which is therefore not
recorded in the table.
The many sanitary improvements which have been carried out by
the Board since its first formation have been attended with very
beneficial results, as evidenced by a lessened death-rate and by a
considerable reduction in the mortality from epidemic diseases; but
what has been done in this respect is but the commencement of
what will have to be done before we can expect to find any
permanent reduction in the mortality from preventable causes.
Among the many requirements for attaining this desirable result,
those which are most immediately needed are a perfect water
supply and a thoroughly efficient system of scavengering—searching
and frequent—particularly in the close courts and alleys (all of
which, as I have before pointed out, require to be paved), in
the byeways and around the dwellings of the poor. These are
practical matters which can be dealt with by the Board completely
and, without doubt, successfully.
The foregoing information, derived from an analysis of the
mortuary returns and of the parochial records of sickness and
mortality amongst the poor, furnishes satisfactory evidence of the
favourable state of the health of this sub-district during the past
year. The death-rate which, as has been shewn, was less by about
1 per 1,000 than the average of the past 10 years, was somewhat
lower than the average natural death-rate (17 per 1,000) of the
rural districts. This and the relation which has been shewn to
have existed between sickness and mortality amongst the poor,
warrant the conclusion that the amount and intensity of disease
which prevailed generally was less than the average.
These results afford much encouragement for an extended and
persevering application of the measures which have been shown to
have been hitherto successfully adopted.
GEORGE EDWARD NICHOLAS,
Medical Officer of Health for the Sub-district of Wandsworth.