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75
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
About the centre of the estate there was an old cycle track
which had been made of ashes and cinders, and some of this was
screened and used with other material for mortar and concrete.
The concrete now being used in the houses at present in course
of construction seems to be satisfactory.
After careful consideration of all the facts and also after
examination of the returns of some of the other Metropolitan
Boroughs, I have come to the conclusion that in houses built upon
a wet soil which contains a large portion of organic matter, cases of
Diphtheria may be looked for, the germ existing in the superficial
layers of the soil. It is probable that the infection is conveyed to
the mouth by the hands of the children playing with this soil,
and consequent infection from person to person.
It is desirable that more stringent legislation should be made
against the building of houses on sites which are damp and which
have been heavily manured, until such site has been thoroughly
drained and the organic matter destroyed or rendered innocuous.
Report of the Surveyor for the Eastern District.
" When first asked to report on this matter, it occurred to
me that possibly the surface sewer ventilators, as to which there
have been complaints from time to time, might be partially responsible
for the prevalence of the disease, but, on comparing the
'Spot' map prepared by the Medical Officer of Health with a
plan showing all sewers and drains on the estate, I cannot trace any
connection between the two.
"Every care is being taken to prevent obnoxious emanations
from the surface ventilators. Some time ago, on complaint by a
builder, I recommended him to take out the stoppers of the interceptors
on the main combined drains (from which the separate
house drains are cut off by intercepting traps') in order that the
upcast shafts at the upper ends of such combined drains might
act as ventilators for the sewers in the streets, this having been
successfully tried on another estate in Streatham. He did so and
shortly afterwards informed me that there was no longer any
offensive smell from the gratings in that particular road. The