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67
In the course of the present year your Vestry have made
arrangements whereby every room in which there has been
a case of small-pox or other dangerous infectious disorder has
been thoroughly disinfected by an officer appointed for the purpose.
This excellent system, the only one on which any reliance can be
placed, is now in full and satisfactory operation.
BATHS AND WASHHOUSES.
No step was taken last year with a view to putting into
operation the Act for providing baths and wash-houses. Considering
the great and increasing value of land, the longer the
matter is delayed, the less likely the Act is to be adopted,
from the growing difficulty of obtaining a suitable site or sites.
WATER SUPPLY
Impressed with the sanitary importance of the Water Supply
question, and believing it to be desirable that the individual
members of your Vestry, as the sanitary authority of this great
parish, should receive the best information procurable on all points
connected therewith, it has been my custom year by year to summarise
the report of Professor Frankland, which is drawn up for
the Registrar General. Last year, I was able to add some valuable
information culled from the monthly reports of Colonel Bolton,
R.E., the Water Examiner under the Water Act, 1871. Dr.
Frankland's report deals mainly with the quality of the water
in its chemical and microscopical aspects, and in relation to its
fitness for drinking and for domestic use. It need scarcely
be stated that his opinion is adverse as regards the waters
obtained (especially; from the Thames, whence our local supply
is derived; although as regards the water distributed by one company,
the West Middlesex, he allows that it is always clear and
bright because well filtered, a standard of excellence in these
respects that the other companies will shortly attain, works
being in progress having this end in view.
It is with the quantity of water, its condition in bulk at the
intakes, and its physical qualities as delivered to consumers,
with whatever that relates to filtration, storage, and distribution
—the machinery of water supply, therefore, that Colonel Bolton's
reports deal ; but it should be borne in mind that the Metropolis
Water Act, 1871, under which this gentleman holds his appointment,
was passed with a view to a system of " constant supply,"
which as regards the parish of Kensington is practically
a dead letter.
I propose, as usual, to present a summary of Dr. Frankland
and Colonel Bolton's reports. Dr. Frankland, it will be seen,
speaks highly of the water obtained by the Kent Company from the
deep wells sunk in the chalk, and which for the sake of comparison