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by the officers in the sanitary department under your sanction, during the
years that your Board has been in existence. The statistics of the health
and mortality of the District have been regularly prepared from quarter to
quarter, and from year to year published, whereby facility is afforded for the
investigation of these interesting subjects. Furthermore, by aid of the
index, easy reference may be made to any particular subject which has been
brought under your notice in these reports. I have in this report made
mention of some of the benefits which this District has derived by the
carrying out of the provisions of the several Sanitary Acts now in
operation, and as the public advances in the knowledge of the science of preventive
medicine, additional sanitary acts will be from time to time enacted
so that further benefits will be conferred on the people.
It is certainly much to be regretted that the subject of sanitary reform
has not at present penetrated the public mind, and until hygiene or the laws
of health is taught in all our schools it will not receive that attention which
its importance demands. It is not long since the subject of sanitation was
spoken of in disparaging terms, but I am happy to say that such is not now
the case, but its importance is freely admitted and a general assent is given
to the advantages to be derived from it. The alleviation of suffering and the
prolongation of human life is the duty of every noble minded man to endeavour
to promote. The mere increase in the number of the population, unless that
population be a healthy one, is of no advantage to the community—it may
even be the reverse, for the strength, safety, and prosperity of the nation
must not be calculated on its numerical superiority, but on the number of
its people who are capable of bearing arms for its defence, and for the
physical power of the' labourers needed for the proper cultivation of the
land. The great drawback, however, to the adoption of sanitary works is
the question of expense, and unfortunately the argumentum ad pecunian
greatly prevails; but to those who have well considered the subject I may
say that although the expense for carrying out sanitary improvements may be
immediate, it will sooner or later bear good fruit, and will give a large per
centage of profit; for the health and strength of the people will be so
improved that nearly every well disposed man will be fit for work ; and as a
result there will be a great diminution of sickness, of pauperism, and of
crime. It cannot be too frequently reiterated and too extensively known
that the rich not only pay a heavy pecuniary penalty, but often suffer a
heavy affliction in themselves and families by neglecting to improve the
sanitary condition of the houses and localities occupied by the poor. It is
well known that defective sanitary arrangements in the poorer localities are
the chief causes of disease among the poor, and when a contagious disease
is once located it soon assumes an epidemic form, and attacks indiscriminately
all classes of the people.