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16
is still partial and still intermittent. A constant supply to
every house should be enforced according to law, and all
cisterns, butts, and other objectionable receptacles entirely
dispensed with.
The general Scavengering of the town, including the
removal of house refuse, &c., as at present conducted, is not
such as is calculated to further the ends of sanitation to
which it should bo subservient. House refuse, as a rule,
is removed only under pressure of great inconvenience or
intolerable nuisance, involving as great a nuisance in its
removal. Such an arrangement, however suited to the convenience
of the dust-contractor, is not by any means adapted
for the fulfilment of what should be considered a prime
necessity for the maintenance of the health of the public.
A systematic house-to-house visitation of the Scavenger at
certain regular intervals, without the necessity of any application
to them by the householder, is what is required.
Drainage.— To ensure the full benefits of the maindrainage
to the general health of the town, the necessity
for the completeness of the local drainage in every part,
and therefore of every house, is sufficiently obvious; and
as the local tributary sewers are in process of construction,
it would seem a fit subject for consideration, whether a
more general and consequently expeditious method than
that of leaving each household to be dealt with separately,
could not be satisfactorily and economically adopted.
Amongst the measures of general application, the details
of which are described in my first Annual Report (1856),
and which I would now recommend the adoption of, the
following especially require notice—viz., a constant water
supply, an efficient system of scavengering, and the drainage
of every house rigorously carried out. These are so
self-asserting of their necessity, so susceptible of a general
and uniform application, and so greatly beneficial in their
results, as, in the face of the evidence in this report of a
need for vigorous sanitary administration, to demand their
early and complete fulfilment.
GEORGE EDWARD NICHOLAS, M.D.
Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth.