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10
which they were designed. The first of these Acts needs
the vigorous interference of the authorities in respect to
its penal clauses, to render it of the least use as a corrective
of the growing indifference to vaccination, especially
amongst the poor.
We cannot conclude this portion of our report without
once more calling attention to the overcrowding of the
dwellings of the poor, and to the necessity which is daily
becoming more obvious, of providing against this increasing
evil. The great sanitary problem of the day is—How
are cheap and wholesome dwellings for the labouring
population to be supplied in sufficient numbers to meet
the demand? Towards the solution of this question it is
submitted, that public opinion should be, in some way,
influenced to obtain a repeal of the oppressive law of settlement,
or to extend the area of its operation. The cottage
market will then be as freely open to the influence of the
commercial law of supply and demand as any other, and
proper house accommodation for the poor and industrious
classes, it is believed, would be thus very readily secured
throughout the country.
It may here be remarked that the water supply of the
district remains in a most unsatisfactory state. The constant
service arrangement, so long promised and looked
for, appears to be as far off as ever, and it is predicted that
so long as this system is withheld from the public, so long
will many of the epidemic class of diseases set the science
and the skill of the sanitarian at defiance.
For the individual opinions of the medical officers ot
health on other topics of interest bearing upon the public
health, the reader is referred to the local summaries which
follow.