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number of horses kept, than in other parts of the Metropolis. The
Local Authority, moreover, is "unable to state whether the disease
has been more prevalent in Kensington than in other parishes," having
"no means of knowing the number of horses kept, the attention of
the Board's officers being only called to those places upon which
disease appears." We read, however, in the Annual Report of the
Veterinary Department of the Privy Council for 1879 (page 32), that
"more cases of glanders and farcy have been returned in the
Metropolis than in any previous year." It is said, however, that
"there is no evidence to show that the disease is more prevalent than
in former years the increased number of cases returned
being due to the activity of the executive in carrying out the Act of
1878, and Orders of Council relating to these diseases."
There can be. little doubt, I think, that the prosecutions which
followed on the discovery of the cases at Colville Mews, together with
the expressed resolve of more than one Police Magistrate to inflict the
full penalty of twenty pounds for offences against the Act, operated as
a stimulus in promoting the disclosure of diseased horses. It is very
desirable, nevertheless, that all the facts bearing on the subject
should be published for general information by the Local Authority,
or by the Privy Council,
SANITARY WORK.
Tables VI and Via (Appendix) summarise the chief items of
work done by the Sanitary Inspectors during the year. not inconsiderable
part of their work, however, scarcely admits of tabulation,
many sanitary improvements being carried out at their instance, and
under their supervision, without recourse to forms, service of notices,
&c., which take up time, and are, indeed, unnecessary when an owner
or occupier is readv and willing to abate nuisances or effect desired
improvements. The statement as to the "number of houses inspected"
applies to primary inspections only. When a nuisance is found to
exist and it is not at once abated, repeated inspections may be required—
as many as six, indeed, when it becomes requisite to take out a
summons. In cases of infectious disease treated at home, under circumstances
which seem likely to endanger the spread of disease, through the
omission of proper precautions, numerous visits are usually paid to the
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