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75
being kept in the dust bin, (2) the accumulation of lumber and
organic matter in the yards of certain houses where small businesses
were carried on. The houses of Edmonton, even the poorest, are,
with very few exceptions, well off in the matter of gardens at the
back, but there is a regrettable tendency in many instances towards
the benefit derived from this extra air space, being counteracted and
even converted into a positive danger, owing to the way in which
many of these gardens are kept.
Inhabitants. The personal cleanliness of the inhabitants of
these households is indicated by the figures shown; 15 per cent., it
is seen, were classed "dirty."
In the course of the inspection it was found that irregularity in
the collection of house refuse had occurred in 14 instances, that
13 of the houses were not provided with dust-bins, and that other
sanitary defects, chiefly in connection with fittings, occurred in
27 instances.
Overcrowding. A tendency towards overcrowding through
two or more families occupying one tenement, was observed in
those areas where a greater concentration of fatal cases occurred.
In a few instances the overcrowding seemed to be the result of
choice rather than of necessity, though even where a family had
say 3 rooms at their disposal and occupied only two of them,
economic reasons for thejr doing so were mostly put forward. In
most instances of this kind of overcrowding, where its real disadvantages
and dangers to child life were explained to the people,
they readily put their empty room Into use again and so improved
matters.
Unmade Streets. Of the 63 streets and roads in which fatal
cases of diarrhoea occurred 15 were unmade, and in these 24 deaths
took place. Though much has been done in recent years to
improve matters in this respect, there are still many unmade streets
and roads in the district. Some of them are in newly-built parts
where there has not yet been time to take them over, some on the