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118
sewers to be relaid, and the works have been carried out.
It is however regrettable that the Vestry should be made
responsible for work in connection with private property in which
it has not the slightest pecuniary benefit, and in many instances
is entirely helpless, as cases have been decided to the effect that
a drain laid down under the approval of the Sanitary Authority,
may become a sewer through the act of some person making a
surreptitious connection thereto from an adjoining property, and
it can only be said that it would be well to amend such
law, in order that the burden of repair of private property should
fall upon the shoulders of those who own the same, and not upon
the Vestries and District Boards. Several local authorities
have found it necessary to appoint a special staff of workmen to
re-construct these systems of drainage, so great has the Work
become.
Medical During the past eighteen months, one hundred and
Examination .
of Vestry ninety-two employes have been medically examined,
Employes. and certificates of the state of health given. During
1897 one hundred and eleven were examined. The results are
entered in a register for future reference.
Mortuary. During the year under report two hundred and
eighty-nine bodies were received into the Mortuary,
six for sanitary reasons, these latter deaths having arisen
generally from infectious disease. On two hundred and eightytwo
of the bodies deposited in the Mortuary, inquests were
held.
In conclusion I beg to refer again to the extremely low
death rate for the year 1897 shewn in this report, as an indication
that the sanitation of the Parish is satisfactory, which condition
I hope will be maintained, the more especially as the Vestry has
determined to strengthen the sanitary staff by increasing the
district inspectors to eight in number, the parish being re-divided
into a like number of districts; in addition to the appointment of