View report page

13
will be gathered from the remarks already made on The nature of
Cholera, that the sewers of a district may become charged with the
virus. It will also be observed that one of the first methods of
prevention, having regard to the extension of Cholera, is the
improvement of house drainage. I submit that a house to house
inspection in selected districts, undertaken with the object of
detecting faulty drainage and providing a remedy, must be
followed by the most beneficial results. Whilst making this
recommendation, I would also suggest that the road gullies and
the public sewers of the parish should, as far as possible, be subjected
to a course of cleansing, and flushing with an abundant
supply of water.
(c) The water, the milk, and the food supplies are subjects to
which attention should be directed. The imperfections of the
existing water supply, resulting from the polluted condition of the
river in that part of its course from which the companies draw
their supply, is a subject with which your Committee has no power
to deal. Hut its fouling in cisterns after it has left the companies'
service pipes may be prevented by strict supervision; and in this
matter your Committee has a direct responsibility conferred upon
it by the Public Health Act, 1891. I submit the recommendation
that a systematic examination be made into the condition of the
cisterns of the parish; that cleansing, when required, should be
enforced; that proper covers, where necessary, should be provided;
that faults of position should be remedied; and that
standing waste pipes, or other direct communications with the
drain, should be abolished.
In regard to the milk and the food supplies, it is desirable that
inquiry be made by the inspectors as to the position of the larder
in houses, with a view of ascertaining whether or not the food is
in danger of becoming affected by reason of the contiguity of the
dust receptacle or the closet, or from the existence of a communication
with the drain by sink or gulley not disconnected or
properly trapped, whereby access might be furnished for the
admission of sewer gas into the larder. An inspection should be