View report page

49
with great intelligence and industry, and I am certain
with very great effect in preventing the spread of the
epidemic and in bringing it to an end. Their zeal
was recognized by the Vestry, who, on the recommendation
of the Sewers and Sanitary Committee,
voted them each a gratuity of two guineas and
a half.
The disinfecting machine, the erecting of which
was ordered by the Vestry on the 1st of March, 1871,
was completed and came into use on the 6th June;
from which time up to the 25th of March, 298 lots of
bedding (the value of which was probably not less
than £750) were removed from infected premises,
disinfected, and restored to their owners entirely free
of cost to them. During the greater part of this
time the superintendence of the arrangements for
disinfection devolved upon Cooper, but the fetching
of the articles to be disinfected, and the process of
disinfection were entrusted to supernumeries, of whom
one, two, or even three were employed, according to
the pressure of work.
I may add, lastly, that in the latter part of 1871,
Wood was absent from his duties for a period of
rather more than five weeks, in consequence of a