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58
To the Chairman and Members of the
PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE.
Miss Boobbyer and Gentlemen,
In accordance with the instructions of the District
Council, I beg to make the following report on the
growing of watercress within the area of the Rural
District.
Practically the whole of the watercress grown is
derived from plants which are obtained early in each
spring from France, and these plants are then set in
properly prepared beds. The beds are kept in running
water during the whole time of growth of the plants.
This industry provides employment for a large number of
hands during many months in the middle of the year,
and the total area for the growth is 16 acres, 1 rood, 27
poles.
As certain diseases have been known to be produced
through eating watercress grown either on sewage
polluted soil, or watered with sewage contaminated water,
it has been the custom during the time which I have
been your Medical Officer of Health, to keep all watercress
beds under careful observation, and in the event of
intestinal disease, to make enquiries as to whether the
patients have or have not had watercress to eat within a
reasonable time before the onset of the attack, if the
watercress has been eaten it has than been necessary to
find out which bed the watercress was obtained from.
Four years ago, a bed in the Parish of Mitcham, at
Beddington Corner was gravely under suspicion. This
bed occupied an area of l½ acres, and was fed entirely
by the undiluted effluent from the Croydon Borough