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9
new roads taken over by the Council have
been brought into a fit and proper condition.
There are still a few more of the
latter remaining to be dealt with, and
from a sanitary point of view the sooner
they are taken in hand the better. The
system of scavenging and general cleansing
of the roads has been improved by making
them into two divisions each under the
supervision of a well qualified foreman. I
must also allude to the care which is bestowed
upon the collection and removal of
house refuse. This is so important a factor
in the sanitary well-being of a district that
too great attention cannot be given to it,
and when it is realised that ten thousand
calls for this purpose have to be made
every week, and that a complaint is rarely
received, I think it sneaks very highly of
the method devised to effect so excellent a
result.
I have occasionally accompanied my colleague
on his visits to the sewage works,
and have to repeat what I have said on
previous occasions, that the drainage works
maintain their efficiency, and are quite up
to modern requirements. The analyses
which have been periodically made of the
samples of the effluent taken by the Thames
Conservancy and the Middlesex County
Council prove the excellence of the processes
at work, and the complete purification of
the sewage rendered by the bacteria beds.
Perhaps the most difficult problem your
Borough Surveyor has to encounter is that
of the road dust question, and one of
supreme importance in relation not only
to the health of the population but likewise
to their comfort. I am assured that
in this matter we are in as good if not
better position than any other district in
Greater London, and certainly the experiment
of laying down slag tar macadam adjacent
to the shops and cab rank on Haven
Green has been very satisfactory, as the
dust has been much lessened. I am glad
to learn it is intended to lay a long stretch
of this material in the High-street, and
possibly elsewhere, the effect of which I
shall watch with interest. This subject
of dust nuisance abatement is so large a
one and so largely associated with health
and well-being, as well as comfort, of the
country at large, that it is greatly to be