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87 of these they were found to be defective. Enquiries were also
made as to the schools that the children (if any) in the house
attended, and the school authorities notified; we were not able
in any of the cases to trace them to this source of propagation.
The disease was not confined to any one particular portion of the
district, but spread over the Hamlet, the Charts will show the
cases as they were notified to us week by week.
SANITARY WORK CARRIED OUT
DURING THE YEAR.
During the last two-and-a-half years we have been engaged in
carrying out a thorough house to house inspection, which is the
only real manner in becoming thoroughly cognisant of the condition
of any particular district. This work will be seen to be of
vital importance to the health of the Hamlet. It is not the first
inspections which take such a large portion of the officer's time
as the constant reinspection which is necessary in order to ensure
the work being carried out in a proper manner after the Vestry
notices have been served, this work, however, has been most
diligently carried out by the Inspectors, who have the welfare of
the Hamlet at heart, and I must add have used great discretion and
tact in order to get the Hamlet into its present condition. A large
amount of time has been spent by them in having drainage works
carried out on the most modern principals, by constantly superintending
the same and testing when completed; although this
method of carrying out the work is more costly in the first instance
to the owner, yet it is of such a permanent character that
the result more than repays the essential outlay; the old
manner of botching drainage work has almost died out, and well
for the householder it has. From the table appended will be
seen in detail the work accomplished, and also the proceedings
that were found necessary to be taken against those persons who
neglected to carry out the orders of the Vestry. I may here say
for the information of the new members the orders which are
recommended by the Sanitary Committee and appear on the
Agenda at each meeting, represent but a very small proportion
of the houses inspected, as under the Public Health Act
when a house has been inspected, whatever requires to be done,
the owner is made acquainted with by means of a written intimation
detailing the nuisance found to exist, this in the majority
of cases is sufficient to get the nuisance abated; if on reinspection
nothing is done, the matter is brought before the Board and dealt
with by them. It will thus be seen that every latitude is given
to property owners before extreme measures are taken. In some
cases, I regret to say, it has been found necessary to take proceedings,
and in every instance the Magistrate made the necessary
orders for the works to be carried out. I must not omit to state
that the number of complaints received during the past year
from householders was less than in previous years, numbering
597, each complaint was the subject of a special enquiry, and
on investigation it was found that only 490 of these had any
connection with my department.