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37
island and inspected these ditches, which receive the water from the
River Thames by a penstock in the Deptford Ferry Road. As the
Committee was informed that dampness was a factor which helped
to cause diphtheria, and the Isle of Dogs being already an exceedingly
damp section of the district, as it lies about 41/2 feet below the
River Thames, the Committee directed that the penstock De kept
shut down.
The Millwall Dock Company and the London County Council
also cleansed their respective ditches.
The Committee also inspected the mud bank formed of the dredging
from the Millwall Docks.
This mud field is in the vicinity of the houses where the diphtheria
prevailed, and as there is a feeling that such an accumulation might
be injurious and dangerous to the health of the inhabitants of Cubitttown,
the Committee later on recommended to the Board that
Dr. Houston, M.B., D.Sc., F.R.S.E., an expert in the chemical and
bacteriological examination of water and soils, at the Public Health
Laboratory, of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, should make a bacteriological
and chemical examination of samples of the soil. The Board
agreed to such recommendation, and at the time of this report going
into print Dr. Houston's report had just been received.
The piggeries on the Island also received special attention. The
styes under the Great Eastern Railway Company's arches (Millwall
extension) were shut up, and the Company refused to let these places
any more for the purpose of keeping pigs. The Secretary of the
Millwall Allotments was communicated with, his attention being
called to the London County Council bye-laws respecting manure
receptacles, &c., and also to the Board's bye-laws as to the keeping
of animals so as to prevent any nuisance. The Secretary was
informed that if the people wished to keep pigs they must do so in a
sanitary manner and not cause any pollution of the earth. Other