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MALE SANITARY INSPECTORS.*
There has been no change in the personnel of the Male Sanitary-
Staff. Details of the work carried out are to be found in Tables M.
and N.
Contravention of By-laws.
1. Drainage Cases.
Several cautionary letters were sent to builders, who had
carried out drainage work (a) without giving previous notice and
without sending in plans, or (b) contrary to the requirements of the
L.C.C. By-laws. In the latter case, the work was altered so as to
comply with the requirements.
2. Removal of offensive matters.
Several cautionary letters were sent to contractors whose
employees had removed through the streets offensive matters
during prohibited hours contrary to the requirements of the L.C.C.
By-laws. The war caused a difficulty owing to vans and horses
having been commandeered by the Government.
Infected Houses and Drainage Defects Found.
A sanitary inspection is made of infected houses, i.e., houses
at which infectious disease is notified compulsorily, and the sanitary
inspection includes, in the large majority of cases, the testing of the
drains with the chemical test. Taking the ordinary notifiable
infectious diseases, out of the †999 infected houses dealt with during
1916, the results are as follow :—
(a) 51, i.e., 5.1 per cent, were found to have defective drams,
i.e., a result was obtained with the chemical test employed.
(b) 395, i.e., 39.1 per cent, showed defects in drains, traps,,
fittings and appliances.
(c) 604, i.e., 60.5 per cent, showed no defects.
*There are 12 District Male Sanitary Inspectors, viz., F. E. Baxter, J. M.
Jones, J. S. Smith, J. Barfoot, G. J. Gavin, T. H. Hooper, T. H. Jackson,
W. Wallis, W. W. Howes, J. M. Scorrer, J. S. Clements and A. Farran, and
one special male Inspector for Food and Drugs (W. J. Perrin).
† The above statistics do not include ophthalmia neonatorum, whooping
cough, measles and German measles, which have been omitted so as to keep
the statistics comparable with those for past years. The figures for (a)
whooping cough and 1916 are : (a) 97 and (b) 221 defective drains and (a) 515 and (b) 1314 ; defective
traps and appliances, out of totals of (a) 1149 and (6) 3222 infected houses
respectively. The number of houses notified in connection with the ordinary
infectious diseases during 1916 is much smaller than during previous years.
No testing of drains 1 out, as a routine, in the case of ophthalmia
neonatorum and tuberculosis infected houses.