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102
saving to the Parish wiil be readily acknowledged when it
is mentioned that the charges of a private contractor
amounted to (at the rate of) over £2,000 per annum,
whereas a good machine can be purchased for £300 to
£400, and worked at a weekly cost of less than £2 for
labour.
The report of the Medical Officer was under consideration
at the end of the year.*
COMBINED DRAINAGE.
This vexed question has engaged the attention of the
Vestry during the year, and several combined systems of
drainage have been re-constructed at the expense of the
Rates. With a staff of Inspectors whose principal duties
deal with the drainage of new and old buildings it is only
natural to expect that the Vestry's attention will be called
at times to defective "combined systems," which in the
present state of the law may be 'sewers," and as such
require to be repaired or re-constructed (when defective) by
the Vestry. Considering the amount of work, however,
done by each Inspector during the past year and the
number of drains examined (see p.p. 78-79), it is satisfactory
to be able to report that only thirty "combined
systems" have been repaired or re-constructed by the
Vestry (at the expense of the Rates) on a report of their
defective condition by the Sanitary Department at a cost
of £
* The Vestry has since decided to purchase a new disinfecting
machine, working on the saturated (under pressure) steam principle, from
Messrs. Defries and Co., of London, at a cost of £342 (inclusive of boiler,
record gauge, etc.), and to erect suitable buildings in connection therewith
on the Wanless Road Mortuary site.