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from the Hackney Station. It is believed, moreover, that there will
be an actual money saving, both in respect of the disinfecting and
cleansing which it is the duty of the Borough to provide. It is due
to the Hackney Council and officials to here testify to the fact that
the work undertaken on behalf of the Borough Council was always
carried out in a most efficient and satisfactory manner, and that it
was only for the reasons indicated above that it was judged desirable
to provide our own installation.
The Shelter has been maintained during the year, but has only
been used on two occasions. The Borough Council, however, is
under a statutory obligation to maintain this provision, and in the
event of an epidemic of certain diseases, it will prove a most useful
means of checking the spread.
THE PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY.
During the year, Dr. Houston, the Director of water examinations,
Metropolitan Water Board, has reported upon some valuable research
work with reference to the Metropolitan Water Supply. He finds
that the most recent tests for the germ of Enteric fever, applied to a
considerable volume of raw river water at weekly intervals, during
tVi period of 12 months, and involving the study of over 7,000
microbes, failed to reveal the presence of a single Typhoid germ. He
points out, however, that it would be altogether presumptuous to
infer from these observations that the Typhoid Bacillus is never
present in the raw river waters, or to conclude that any relaxation
in the processes in purifying the raw waters, by storage and filtration,
is justifiable. He finds, moreover, that even when the Typhoid
germs are planted in raw river water, over 99 per cent. generally
disappear in one week, but, inasmuch as in the majority of the
experiments a few of the germs survived for as long as from five to
eight weeks, at least one or two months' storage would be necessary
to secure complete safety. Dr. Houston proposes to continue these
observations if possible under less artificial conditions than those
which are necessarily involved by laboratory conditions.