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the 25th April three of the cows were taken ill and were slaughtered,
the carcases being removed with the usual precautions. The freedom
of the remaining cows from disease was ascertained, and
thereupon the whole of them, 35 in number, were killed and
dressed in the shed, and sent to the meat market. The hides
and offal were disinfected, and conveyed to the boiling house; the
manure was disinfected, taken away and buried. The woodwork of
both sheds was to some extent destroyed, the buildings were disinfected,
and not used again for 30 days. The theory of the origin
of the outbreak is as follows :—The cows in the first shed (which
was licensed only on the 3rd of April), were brought on 7th April
from an old shed in the fields at Notting. hill, where there had been
a sale of a much larger number on the 6th; and it is supposed that
the infection was carried to the old shed in the clothes of some
one or more of the persons engaged in the trade, who viewed th e
cattle on the 5th, and attended the sale on the following day. The
nearest cowshed to that from which the cows were removed is at
Willesden, where the plague had already proved very destructive,
but as the Willesden shed is about a mile distant from the
shed in the fields there is no good reason for believing that the
contagium was, or could have been carried in the atmosphere. It
may be mentioned that the secretion of milk in cows ceases, almost
instantly, in the very first stage of this malignant disease.
BAKEHOUSES.
The bakehouses, 117 in number, viz., 66 in the North and 51
in the South Sanitary district have been regularly inspected, and
the provisions of the Act relating to them, carried out as fully as
possible.
SANITARY WORK.
The sanitary work of the year executed by the inspectors, so
far as it is capable of being set out on paper, is stated in Table VI.
(Appendix ;) and Table VIa, shows the details of same as recorded
in my monthly reports. A very large amount of sanitary work,
however, e.g., abatement and removal of nuisances, cleansing of
dwelling houses, &c., &c., is done through the influence exercised
by the inspectors, without any necessity for the formal
order of your Vestry. The number of complaints received, and
returned in thecomplaint book was 1,357, of which by far the
larger proportion resulted from inspections by the sanitary officials
in the ordinary course of duty. The actual number of orders
issued for the sanitary amendment of premises, &c., was 1,530, viz ,
776 in the North, and. 754 in the South Sanitary District.
DUST REMOVAL.
The subject of dust removal has a special interest for us at the
present time, your Vestry having now undertaken the work