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other hand run through quite old property and have been in their
unmade condition for years. The effect of an unmade road on the
deterioration of adjoining property has more than one illustration in
the district. In such a road it is impossible for. the inhabitants to
maintain cleanliness and neatness in their houses be they never so
willing, and the result is, that before long, these houses come to be
occupied solely by a class that cares for neither cleanliness nor order.
Experimental Area Having been led to expect a more
severe diarrhoea season than usual this year, and being convinced of
the important part played by dust arising from organic matter of
all kinds, in favouring the disease, I obtained the consent of the
Council to carry out an experiment the result of which, if successful,
might serve as a guide in the adoption of preventive measures in
the future. An area was selected for special treatment as regards
scavenging, road-watering and the removal of house refuse, for the
purpose of seeing in how far special attention to such points as
these—which are under the absolute control of the Local Authority
—might lessen the ravages of the disease. The area selected is
that which is bounded by Hertford Road on the west, Seymour and
Cornwallis Roads on the east, Town Road on the south, and
Bounces Road on the north. It is an area which has a large
proportion of young children in its population and lies in the centre
of a locality that, in past years, has suffered severely from diarrhcea.
I quote from Dr. Green's Annual Report for 1898, in which he says,
speaking of summer diarrhcea—"31 of the deaths took place in the
Town and Bounces Roads and their bye-roads, together with St.
Mary's and St. Joseph's Roads, a part of the district that I have
found to suffer severely from this disease."
In the early days of July the streets and sidewalks of the selected
area were thoroughly swept and cleaned, and on July 4th the roadways
were treated, by means of the watering carts, with a 10 per
cent. solution of "Westrumite," a preparation of which the basis is
a mineral oil. Two tons of the material were used on the first
occasion and the same amount 6 weeks later when the area was
again treated. Nothing else in the way of watering was done from