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186
of detail which have been fitfully under the consideration
of the Sewers and Sanitary Committee
for some many months past that need to be dealt
with, and one or two other matters which change
of circumstances make it important to reconsider.
There is one subject, however, to which I feel it my
duty to call special attention. It is probably well
known that I have long advocated the appointment
of a larger number of Inspectors than are at present
employed. We began with two when the parish
comprised between fifty and sixty thousand inhabitants,
and we continued to employ two only
until the time of the cholera epidemic of 1866.
Then two additional Inspectors were appointed for
temporary purposes; but I am glad to say that their
services were continued. And from that time to
the present (with merely temporary exceptions) we
have never had less than four Inspectors. But in
my annual report for the year 1866 I pointed out
that in my opinion a still larger number of
Inspectors would before long be required. I venture
to quote what I then wrote on this subject:—
"It will be seen, I think, from all that has just
been stated, that the Inspectors have not been idle,
that the systematic house-to-house inspections have
been continuous and beneficial in a high degree to