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43
provide that water—the first necessary of life, be
supplied for universal use in its utmost procurable
purity.
Beyond the above points, which are of general
application within the City, all your remaining
precautions will relate to the condition of private
houses; and of these—occupied by the poorer
classes, there exist in the City some thousands,
over which it will be requisite, by repeated inspection,
to maintain an efficient sanitary watch. From
circumstances to which I have already referred, it
appears that your defences against Cholera will very
mainly consist in removing causes of disease from
within individual houses; and it is only by an
organised system of inspection, for detecting and
removing every unclean condition, that this object
can be attained. For your encouragement in this
task, I may venture to express my belief that,
throughout a considerable portion of the City, the
local affinities for Cholera are not too strong to be
greatly modified and obviated by such a system.
With respect to this important work of sanitary
inspection, what I now propose is no new proceeding
within the City. More or less since the date of my
appointment—but I hope, with gradual increase of
completeness and efficiency, weekly visitations on a
considerable scale have been made, under my direction,
by your four Inspectors of Nuisances. Acting
under your authority, and guided by what informa-