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authorities will at once do everything that can be done
to put their districts into a wholesome state. Measures
of cleanliness, taken beforehand, are of far
more importance for the protection of a district
against Cholera than removal or disinfection of filth
after the disease has actually made its appearance.
9. It is important for the public very distinctly
to remember that pains taken and costs incurred
for the purposes to which this Memorandum refers
cannot in any event be regarded as wasted. The
local conditions which would enable Cholera, if imported,
to spread its infection in this country, are
conditions which day by day, in the absence of
Cholera, create and spread other diseases : diseases,
which, as being never absent from the country, are
in the long run, far more destructive than Cholera;
and the sanitary improvements which would justify
a sense of security against any apprehended importation
of Cholera would, to their extent, though
Cholera should never re-appear in England, give
amply remunerative results in the prevention of
those other diseases.
GEORGE BUCHANAN,
Medical Officer of the Board.
Local Government Board,
July 13, 1883.