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149
The measures taken to arrest the epidemic were the
following:—
1. All sanitary defects were put right.
2. The street sewers were flushed more thoroughly and frequently.
<3. I sent a notice to all School Teachers directing them to watch
any children apparently suffering from sore throat, and if they
found any thus affected to send them home until they were able to
produce a doctor's certificate that they were not suffering from an
infectious throat.
This latter precaution I consider most important. The
fact that diphtheria has been gradually increasing in the
Metropolis in spite of our improved sanitary conditions,
appears to me to he a strong argument for the belief that
the crowding together and the close intercourse of very
young children in our public schools, is one of the main
factors in the extension of the disease.
Typhoid Fever.—I have had-eight cases of this disease
notified to me as compared with 12 during the preceding
year. One case was removed to hospital Two of the
cases proved fatal.
Cholera.—During the summer and autumn of last year
there was great apprehension of an outbreak of cholera
but which was never realised. All necessary precautions
however Avere taken in order to be prepared for the epidemic
should the occasion have unfortunately arisen. A
site was obtained for the ercction of a temporary cholera
hospital. Enquiries were made as to how many medical
men in the district would be prepared to attend cases of
cholera and choleraic diarrhoea if called upon by the
Sanitary Authority to do so, at a fixed rate of remuneration.
An Ambulance Station was to be fitted up by the
Asylums Board at the Police Station in the Upper Richmond
Road. The question as to the provision of refuges
for the healthy occupants of infected houses was not