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122
is perfectly adapted, and is really admirably suited in all respects,
not forgetting the essential one of position, for the purpose
indicated.
DISINFECTION.
During the year ended March 25th, 1881, a large number of
infected articles of bedding, clothing, furniture, &c., were satisfactorily
disinfected by the contractors, mostly at the cost of your
Vestry, the owners being too poor to bear the expense. The
weight of the articles disinfected at the public cost, was about
14 tons: their number, 5650, and the cost of the process,
£280 10s. Od. Large as this outlay may appear, it is probably less
than would have been incurred had your Vestry been possessed of a
disinfecting chamber, and the necessary staff for working it. An
establishment and staff would have to be maintained in working
order almost irrespective of the amount of infectious disease
existing, whereas, under the present system, we pay only for work
done; all infected articles, moreover, being cleansed as well as
disinfected.
Three hundred and thirty-three Rooms in houses were disinfected
with sulphurous acid by your Vestry's Officer. No charge
was made in the great majority of instances; a small fee, however,
to cover the cost of the process, having been charged to those in a
position to pay. Many rooms in addition were disinfected by the
contractor.
WATER SUPPLY.
PRofessor Frankland's Report.— I have always thought it
desirable that your Vestry, as the body responsible in this great
parish for carrying into effect the provisions of sanitary legislation,
should receive, year by year, the best and latest available information
on all points connected with the water supply, a very important
question in relation to the public health, and it has been my
custom, therefore, to summarise the report prepared annually by
Professor Frankland, for the Registrar-General.
Of late years I have been enabled to furnish, in addition, a
summary of interesting facts supplied in monthly reports by
Colonel Bolton, R.E., the "Water Examiner," underthe "Water