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(3)
7. Diarrhaa caused no death.
The total deaths from the Principal Zymotic Diseases were nine in number, viz.: 8 from Measles and
1 from Enteric Fever, and were at the rate of l.6 per 1000 of the population. In the other portions of
the Surrey Combined Sanitary District the highest Zymotic death-rate was 1.5 and the lowest was .24.
(See also Tables III., IV., and VI. at the end of the Report.)
As regards the other infectious diseases which have to be notified under the above-mentioned Act:
Three cases of Erysipelas, all occurring among elderly persons, were notified in three houses. No case of
Puerperal Fever was reported.
The following is a summary of the further action which was taken for preventing the spread of some
of these diseases :—The houses infected with Enteric Fever, Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, or Erysipelas were
visited by the Inspector and myself; isolation of the sick was inculcated; disinfectants for use during
illness were supplied and their proper use explained; all nuisances and sanitary defects discovered upon
the premises were remedied as far as was practicable ; and, after the illnesses were over, formal notices to
cleanse and disinfect the infected rooms and their contents were, in most instances, served on the owners
or occupiers. From the houses of the poor the infected bedding was removed and was disinfected by
Mr. R. F. Holloway, of Hackbridge, at the expense of the Sanitary Authority.
As to the proposed Joint Isolation Hospital.
In February the Local Government Board caused an Inquiry to be held at Sutton into the application
of the Epsom (Rural), Sutton, and Carshalton Joint Hospital Board (on which the Authority of
this district has two representatives), to sanction a loan for the purchase of eight acres of land in the
parish of Cuddiugton, as a site for this hospital. The proposal was strongly opposed, among others, by
residents in the neighbourhood of the site, by the Conservators of the adjoining Downs, by the Brighton
Railway Company, and by the Sutton District Water Company, the latter Company contending (though
the land is 2J miles from their works) that the sewage of the Hospital would rapidly find its way,
through fissures in the chalk, down to the water level, and would pollute the springs or reservoirs in
the chalk from which their water supply is derived. In November, however, the Board sanctioned the
purchase of the site for this purpose on condition (1) that the layer of surface-soil, overlying the chalk,
on an acre of the land, should be increased to a depth of 4 feet, and that this acre should be used for the
purification of the sewage; and (2) that the Joint Board would undertake not to treat cases of Smallpox
at the Hospital when any other kind of disease is under treatment there—both of which conditions the
Joint Board accepted. Afterwards, as a preliminary to the formal application, they informally submitted
plans of the proposed buildings to the Local Government Board, who, at a subsequent conference with
a deputation, suggested certain modifications of them, which were to receive the further consideration of
the Joint Board.
In August the Sanitary Authority, in compliance with the suggestion of the Local Government Board's
circular on the connection between Cholera and Diarrhcea, added Diarrhoea, occurring in their district
in persons over one year of age, to the list of diseases which were to be notified under the Act during
the ensuing three months. No cases, however, were so notified.
In December the Authority considered the question of adding Measles to the list of notifiable
diseases, and decided not to do so at present.
III.— Summary of other Sanitary Proceedings, &c., which were taken
during the year.
1, As in previous years, the Sanitary Authority contracted for the removal of house refuse from
premises in their district.
2. The slaughter-houses, the workshops and workrooms, the bakehouses, and the premises of the
registered cow-keepers, dairymen, and purveyors of milk were inspected.