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28
THE DUSTING OF THE PARISH.
From a note at the bottom of Table XIV., it will be seen that
during the 12 months to which the Table refers, viz.: from Ladyday
1872 to Lady-day 1873, your Inspector of Dust visited 26,279
houses, and found that dust was required to be removed from 10,112,
or rather more than 38 per cent. of the houses visited. To these
10,112 there must be added 2508 removals, which were consequent
upon reports from the other Inspectors, making a total of 12,620
premises from which the Contractors were required to remove dust
owing to the work of your Inspectors.
During the same period Letters and Postal Cards were recorded
in the Sanitary Department, requesting the removal of dust
from 9434 premises, and entries were also made in relation to
removal from 4750 premises from personal applications, which were
made at the Vestry Hall, making a total of 14,184 premises from
which dust was ordered to be removed in consequence of requests
from parishioners, so that including the 12,620 mentioned above,
the Contractors were required in writing by your officers to remove
refuse from 26,804 premises. I have given the statistics from
March 1872 to March 1873, although that period includes the last
three months of the year's figures, which were presented to you by
my predecessor in his Annual Report for 1871, because, as thus
stated, they will be more useful for future comparison, as the period
named will correspond both with respect to the 12 months comprehended
in the Annual Table of our Sanitary Works, and also of the
Annual Contracts for Dusting, which will not extend from June to
June as formerly, but from March to March, as in the contracts last
entered into by the Vestry.
In order to effect this change, the contracts which expired at
Lady-day 1873, had extended over a period of nine months only,
from the 24th June 1872, during which time requests for removal
were made by inhabitants in relation to 9656 premises, 6148
were by letter or postal card, and 3508 by personal application
at the Vestry Hall.
Of these 9,656 requests, 5,364 or about five-ninths of the whole
were received during the last three months of the nine months'
contracts, 4,292 or about four-ninths only having been received