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sums make a total of £3224. 5s. 9d., from which, however, has
to be deducted £185. 0s. 5d. for dust which has been sold from
No. 1 division, leaving a total of £3039. 5s. 4d. as the net cost
for the year. The number of dust complaints during the year
were not large, viz., 2030, especially when it is considered that
these included all requests to have the dust removed without any
complaint having been made against the men for its non-removal.
There are many persons in the District who will not place a D
card in their windows, but prefer writing to or applying at the
Town Hall whenever they desire their dust to be taken away.
It is, therefore, evident that the plan of having the house refuse
removed at a fixed sum per load under my direction, and the
superintendence of the Dust Inspector, answers very well in this
District, especially as by this plan and by the system of check
employed, we do not pay for more than the value of the work
done, as, doubtless, was often the case under the old contract
system for clearing the District at a lump sum.
The mortuary has been of considerable service during this
as well ns in former years, as 59 dead bodies were deposited
therein, many being removed from premises let out to different
families, and in some instances where the whole family had but
one room for living and sleeping in. This number is not quite
so great as in 1877, in consequence of fewer deaths from small
pox. The disinfecting chamber has also assisted us indirectly,
in consequence of numerous applications from respectable persons
(who had their own private medical attendant), for the disinfection
of bedding and clothing, concerning whose cases we
should have remained ignorant if we had not had this chamber.
The number of nuisances abated during the year was 5912,
being rather below the average of the three preceding years,
which, most probably, arose from the large number of summonses
issued against persons neglecting to carry out works necessary to
abate nuisances, during the years 1877 and 1878, viz.: 79 in
1877, and 83 in 1878. The number of choked drains which
have been cleansed and repaired, or reconstructed, was