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REPORT.
June, 1869.
Gentlemen,
In presenting my Fifth Annual Report, and the Thirteenth compiled
for this District in accordance with the provisions of the "Metropolitan
Management Act," I have deviated from my ordinary course. Hitherto
I have followed the plan of my predecessor, who brought the Vital
Statistics up to the end of the year, and the Sanitary Statistics to the
end of March. Now, it appears to me that the Vital and Sanitary
Statistics should be co-relative, so that while we are looking to our death
rate, we should be able to view the sanitary works accomplished, and
thus be able to judge the improvement in the health of the population
as affected by such measures. I have, therefore, brought the whole of
the statistics to the end of the March quarter, as that is the quarter
which terminates the year of the Metropolitan and Poor Law Boards.
For the future my yearly Report will be taken from March to March.
That great sanitary improvements have been effected will be seen upon
inspection of Sanitary Miscellanea (page 22); and the appearance of the
streets is a conclusive evidence of our advancement. Numbers of streets
hitherto unpaved are now paved, and roads levelled; channels that were
irregular and uneven are so no longer; gullies untrapped have been
trapped, and our roads have been kept clean.
I am not, I consider, paying any unmerited compliment by saying,
that very much of this improvement has ensued since the appointment of
our present Surveyor; and, although he has been ably and generously
encouraged by the countenance and support of the Vestry and Works
Committee, yet, the evident and most conspicuous improvements in our
highways and thoroughfares are so prominent a feature to our daily
observation, it becomes most obviously manifest, that without the
watchful eye, the vigilant and active supervision of the chief of the
department, such a pleasant and healthful state of things could scarcely
be anticipated.