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10
have been 11. To this number, however, must be added the 10 deaths in the
Fever Hospital of persons belonging to this District; thus making the total
number of deaths from fever 21.
So soon as I became acquainted with the fact that fever, said by Mr.
Loane and Mr. Sequeira to be typhoid, was prevalent in certain courts in
the District, I requested the Surveyor to make application to the "Water
Companies for a sufficient supply of water to enable his staff of men to
flush out, three times every week, not only the courts in which fever prevailed,
but also the public privies and drains. The flushing was well carried
out, under the direction of the Surveyor; and at the first meeting of the
Board I reported what had been done. The Board fully approved of the
same, and sanctioned its continuance. This proceeding has apparently been
attended with very satisfactory results, for since the two privies above-men
tioned were thoroughly flushed out, no other case of fever has occurred in
the court. I may, however, observe, that 6 out of the 7 patients in these
two houses were sent to the Fever Hospital, where three of them died. The
cases of fever in the other courts rapidly declined in number, so that no new
case was recorded in the District for a period of eight or nine days, when the
flushing was discontinued. There are, however, a few cases scattered over
the District. In addition to the flushing, above-mentioned, which was
continued for a period of about four weeks, (at a cost of £61 15s.) carbolic
acid was freely used in the courts and privies wherever fever cases existed.
The clothes and bedding of the patients were disinfected by heat in the
disinfecting apparatus, and the rooms were disinfected by sulphurous acid
gas. Steps were also taken to diminish the over-crowding of all the rooms
in the neighbourhood where it was found that space less than 300 cubic feet
was allotted to each inmate. The landlords were served with notices to
repair and trap all drains which were found to be defective, and all available
means were used to induce persons suffering from fever to be removed to the
hospital. At first, great difficulty was experienced in inducing patients to
be removed, but after a time this difficulty decreased. The 26th section of
the Sanitary Act gives power to the local authorities to obtain an order from
the Magistrate to compel the removal of a patient suffering from any infectious
disease, who is not provided with proper lodging, to a hospital; but as
there is no specified penalty for not complying with the order of the Magistrate,
it is almost useless for the Officers of the Board to obtain such order.
This section of the Sanitary Act certainly requires to be so amended as to
give the officers of the local boards power to remove any person suffering
from infectious disease, when, by such person remaining at home, the lives
of others living in the same house may be endangered. Only a few days ago
the Inspector, in visiting a case of fever, found that a boy, aged about 13
years, had been ill for several days with fever (probably typhus). This room
has a cubic space of 1050 feet, and was tenanted by a man, his wife, and
four children. Of these four children, three have had fever. The boy above-