View report page

39
been followed by the cleansing of their houses, and by the disinfecting
of their clothing and bedding in the Vestry's apparatus,
as many as 4,695 articles being thus disinfected during the year.
I may here also refer to the beginning of a system of
notification of infectious diseases, which, while only a beginning,
nevertheless deserves record in this report. I am indebted to
the Vice-Chairman of the Metropolitan Asylums Board for making
arrangements for a weekly list to be sent to your Medical Officer
of all cases of infectious disease in the Metropolis which come to.
the knowledge of that Board. This list enables the growth of an
epidemic to be seen before our own district is invaded, and
without waiting during the time which must elapse before the
death returns give evidence of its occurrence. In the future it
will probably serve in indicating any spread of disease through
an infected milk supply which is perhaps being distributed in
various parts of the Metropolis, and will enable the cause of the
illness to be detected earlier than heretofore, and loss of life and
health prevented. This system is now extended to the whole
Metropolis.
The increased amount of work carried out by the Sanitary
Department, could not have been accomplished without a
material addition to the small staff which the Vestry possess,
had not the duties of the inspectors been re-arranged, to make
their work more effective than heretofore. The gradual increase
in the thoroughness of the work of the Sanitary Department
during the last few years, of which the accompanying table bears
witness, has been of the greatest service to the Parish in ensuring
its better sanitary condition. Of this evidence is to be found not
only in diminished death-rates, but during the last few years, the
Vestry have increasingly taken the initiative in remedying
unhealthy conditions, and have not waited until their parishioners
brought them to their notice after a longer interval, during which
health must have suffered as a result of delay. I believe this to
be the proper position of an efficient Sanitary Authority.
That these results could not be obtained without interfering
with certain interests is obvious to all who have any knowledge
of the effects of Sanitary work. I am, however, fully convinced
they will make ample return by conferring greater freedom from
disease, and prolongation of life upon the inhabitants of the
Parish, and I have felt that, as Medical Officer of Health, I
incurred a serious responsibility when I undertook the duties