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PUTNEY AND ROEHAMPTON.
Until the Registrar General shall have had sufficient time to collate
and arrange the vast amount of statistical information furnished by the
recent census, and shall have published his usual summary of results, the bases
upon which reliable calculations can be made, having reference to the sanitary
condition of particular districts, must necessarily be somewhat limited. With,
however, the aggregate amount of the population alone determined (and very
little beyond this information has yet been given, even to the Medical Officers
of Health), it is hoped the report which I have now the honour of submitting
will not be without interest to both the authorities and ratepayers ; and further,
that both will recognise some good grounds for the assertion I here most
confidently make, that the condition of this parish, in a sanitary point of view,
is steadily but surely advancing.
Progress of Improvement—Sanitary Operations during the Year.
Table VI., in the Appendix, well exhibits the amount and kind of sanitary
seed sown during the year, from which it is confidently anticipated a still
more satisfactory harvest of results than has already been gathered, will be
reaped before the season again arrives to report progress.
The extension of the main and branch sewerage, 3,980 feet in length,* to
the Charlwood and Upper Richmond Roads, is the great sanitary event of the
period, and I briefly allude to it in this place in order to reiterate
my conviction, that with the view to secure to the sub-district the full benefits
of the sanitary provisions of the Metropolis Local Management Act, no more
desirable measure of improvement could have been determined upon.
The same table shows that a somewhat large amount of other sanitary
work has been carried out during the past year, and that many permanent
improvements have been accomplished, which cannot fail, if properly sustained,
to render the sub-district not only much less open than formerly to the invasion
of disease, but a much more desirable and healthy suburb in every respect.
In addition to the inspections, &c., indicated in the table referred to, it should
be stated that all the slaughter houses in the sub-district were frequently
visited by the Surveyor and myself, and having been found in the best possible
condition to ensure to their proprietors a renewal of their licenses, at the
usual period for granting the same, were so reported to the Board of Works.
* The length of brick sewer recently constructed is 2,228 feet; that of pipe sewer,
1,752 feet.