View report page

9
attended to. Isolation in infectious disease, and disinfection
at its termination, must be carried out. The periodical
inspection of slaughter houses and cow-houses, dairies and
bakehouses may not be neglected. The Sale of Food and
Drugs Act must be maintained in operation. When all
these matters have received a proper share of consideration ;
when notices have been served, and in due course the issue
of summonses has followed; when time is spent in the
Police Court in applications for summonses, in first hearings,
in adjournments, in second hearings for the recovery of
penalties, and in adjournments on account of vexatious
proceedings on the part of the defendant; then, and not
until then, may the Inspector having sole charge of a large
district commence the work of house to house inspection, and
devote his energy to structural improvements. The precedence
given, and which must be given, to the least important class
of inspectorial duties, results in the shelving of that class
which requires in its performance the greatest skill, the
largest amount of technical knowledge, and is followed by
the most satisfactory results.
When I speak of satisfactory results I use that word in its
larger sense. No work engages the attention of the sanitarian
that has a more beneficial effect upon the community
than that which devotes itself to the improvement of the
dwellings of the working classes. Such an improvement
indeed often awakens among the people a pride in cleanliness,
which before had laid dormant. The effect of the development
of the cleanly habit may be observed in districts
in which the Sanitary Inspector has left behind him
a trail sufficiently recognisable in paved courts and yards
and perfected sanitary appliances. When the muddy surfaces
adjacent to the doors of the cottage have been renovated by
the provision of a smooth and impervious paving, when
surfaces that can be cleansed by the use of the scrubbing