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the discharge of their other duties. These complaints indeed
became so numerous at last that it was impossible for the sanitary
inspectors to make inspections, and all that could be done
was to issue orders to the several contractors to remove the
dust. The repetition of complaints by the same parties, on consecutive
days or at short intervals, proving delay in executing the
orders, 1 ventured, in March, 1875, to advise the Vestry to appoint
a "Dust Inspector," which was done, in the person of Mr. Thomas
Gaylard. To the duties of this office, those of Inspector under
the "Sale of Food and Drugs Act" were subsequently added; this
work being done, however, after office hours. Inspector Gaylard
also undertook a certain amount of general sanitary work, as time
and circumstances permitted. Excellent results followed the
appointment of this officer—a part of whose special occupation,
however, as an overlooker of the contractors' work, came to an end
in 1877, when the contract system was discontinued.
Lastly, my attention having often been directed to the unsatisfactory
way in which the disinfection of rooms, after the occurrence
of infectious diseases, was conducted—the process often
being ineffectual, from the want of care or the ignorance of the
poor occupiers, I recommended the appointment of a special officer
to do the work; and Mr. James W. Wightman was appointed in
April, 1877, his time being filled up in attending to minor sanitary
matters, and in learning the duties of an Inspector. On Mr.
Langman becoming disqualified by illness, the duties of his office
were at first undertaken by Mr. Wightman, and subsequently were
divided between that officer and Mr. Middleweek, who was temporarily
appointed in January, 1878, with such assistance as Inspector
Gaylard's attention to his other duties permitted him to give.
I have now brought the history of the Sanitary Department
down to the close of 1877, at which time the population of the
parish had increased to about 152,000; the number of occupied
dwellings (including stables and mews) being nearly 20,000, and
the length of the streets subject to the control of your Vestry 65
to 70 miles. What has been stated will have given some idea of
the importance of the question, with which the Special Purposes
Committee had to grapple. Their report on it was as follows:—
"With reference to 'the duties and salaries of the subordinate
officers in the department of the Medical Officer of Health,' and
as to filling up the vacancies caused by the resignation of Messrs.
Langman and Wood, your Committee beg to report, That, owing
to the great development of the Parish of late years—the large
population, the number of inhabited dwellings, and the extensive
mileage of the streets—the Parish should be divided for sanitary
purposes into four districts, two north and two south of the
Uxbridge-road, and to be named respectively North West, North
East, Central, and South.