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77
Minutes 1897, p. 1371) to be converted into a residence
for the superintendent of the disinfecting department, an
extra refuge* for persons from infected houses, or other
purposes as may be found necessary, whilst the rest of the
garden is to be used by the Vestry as a depot.
The old disinfecting machine at the Wharf, Belvedere
Road, has also been put into thorough repair during the
year, fitted with two new coils (one in connection with the
furnace and the other with the boiler), and a new steam
gauge (pressure), the boiler cleansed, and new sockets provided
to a large number of the steam pipes, the joints of
which have in many instances been renewed also, at a total
cost of £ 98 12s. 5d.
Everything has been done that can be done, to render
this old machine as efficient as possible, but its age is
such that it may, at any time, break down permanently,
and require to be replaced by a new one on more
modern principles, as the principle upon which the old
machine works is old-fashioned, and the work not, in
consequence, so expeditiously or so efficiently done as
would be the case with a more up-to-date machine.
In the event of a breakdown, from any cause, of either
machine, the work of the Parish will not be interfered
with, and there will no longer be any necessity to employ
a private contractor, as was the case at the end of 1896,
and the beginning of 1897, viz:—from December 9th to
December 23rd, 1896, at a cost of £89 15s. for disinfecting
99 cwt. 2 qr. 251b. of bedding, clothes, &c.; and from March
24th to March 31st, at a cost of £31 lis. 3d., for disinfecting
35 cwt. 8 lb. of infected goods.†
* The Refuge at the Wharf has not been used as much as was expected,
owing no doubt to its position in the Vestry's Dust Depot, and the Parish,
therefore, requires another one in a more suitable situation.
† Messrs. Armfield & Sons, of Victoria Bridge Road, Battersea, were the
Contractors employed by the Vestry, at a cost of 18s. per cwt.