View report page

20
certainly of opinion that had we been able to obtain a sufficient supply
of water for flushing purposes in our poor and crowded districts, we
should not have had the amount of infectious disease, and especially
diphtheria, that I have had to report.
DRAINAGE.
During the year there have been erected 12 additional ventilating
shafts to the sewers, and of these 10 are in the Cann Hall Ward.
In addition there have been 142 ventilating shafts to housedrains
erected, mostly in the Cann Hall Ward.
I shall be glad to see many more public ventilating shafts erected,
as I consider that the ventilation of the sewers in that Ward is totally
inadequate, being the back end of the sewerage system.
DUST REFUSE.
The "pail-system" is universal in the district and has worked
very satisfactorily. There are nine carts and 13 men employed in the
work, four men being paid directly by the Council.
I am glad to report that no dust has been shot in the District
during the past twelve months, the shoot being outside.
I hope in my next year's Report to be able to state that all our
dust will be destroyed in the sludge-destrncfcor now in course of
erection.
INSPECTION OF CANN HALL WARD.
The severe epidemic of diphtheria in this ward necessitated a
house-to-house inspection by the Sanitary Inspector, with the following
result. The inspection took place from June 28th to December 31st,
and during this period 668 houses were visited and their drains
tested. In 474 houses, sanitary defects were found and notices were
served on the owners to remedy the same. The principal faults were
defective connections of the w.c.'s, defective flushing apparatus, bad
condition of the paving around the back additions, and the want of
proper ventilation for the house drains.
In 324 out of the 668 houses, it was found necessary to re-connect
and concrete the w.c's.
A grave defect found was that six inch pipes were brought up to
connect with four-inch traps without any process of diminishing, and
in the majority of cases the joints, many of which were in mortar,
instead of being rendered in concrete, were broken (doubtless, in some
instances, due to severe frost), allowing sewer-gas to escape into the
house. This state of affairs was remedied, the branch drain being
properly diminished and concreted to top of traps with open risers.