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parish, in common with all London, has suffered since the commencement of the year,
and some scattered cases of small-pox, enteric fever, and diphtheria required my close
attention also. Great difficulty in stamping out all these is experienced, from the
studious concealment from the Sanitary Authority of their existence, practised by those
immediately responsible for their care; so that until a death occurs, and other persons
living in or near the affected house have contracted the same infectious disease in some
particular neighbourhood, and consequently it runs on unchecked for at least a time, jis
was notablv exemplified at an old clothes shop in one lane, and a milk shop in another
side street, in both of which fatal scarlatina broke out and spread before I could
possibly take the proper steps to arrest further contagion. I need hardly say that the
strongest preventive measures were always put in force by myself and the Inspector of
Nuisances, to the utmost of our knowledge and power.
I made the customary half-yearly inspections of the Slaughter-houses and Cowhouses,
in February and September. Both these classes of buildings were in as satisfactory
condition as usual, save some of the cow-houses and dairies where the arrangements
of the cow-sheds, as to ventilation and drainage, was said to be improved from last
year, but really altered for the worse, by the Inspectors of the Metropolitan Board of Works
acting under the new regulations authorised by the 36th section of the Contagious
Diseases (Animals) Act of 1878. You, as a sanitary authority, are powerless to prevent
such alterations, however hurtful they may be; but as the Metropolitan Board has
no locus standi at quarter sessions, for assenting to, or refusing, the grant or renewal of
Licenses, your officers took the same steps with regard the slaughter-houses and cowshed
licenses as formerly, and continue to inspect the dairies and milk-shops.
In consequencc of the repeal of the Bakehouse Regulation Act, and the adoption
of the Factory and Workshops Act, 1878, I inspected the bakehouses in our parish for
the last time, in November. They were all then in fair order, with one exception,
where a privy in the midst of the bakehouse, which I had previously reported to your
Sanitary Committee, had not been removed, and under the new Act, you were again
unable to interfere with this disgusting nuisance, which is still existing. I cannot learn
that am proper, if any, bakehouse inspection has yet been tarried out by the officials,
who alone are now empowered to look after such establishments.
In January, 1 commenced to enforce, by your order, the Canal Boats Act, 1877,
and took measures for regularly ascertaining what boats entering your waters were
complying with it, and for arranging a system of inspection and notification of registration
with other authorities. This occupied much time, and entailed lengthy correspondences,
while for the first six months at least, the Act seemed a dead letter, owing
to various defects in its details, notablv, a want of power for detention of an offending
boat, whilst a local magisterial decision was being obtained. Since then we have
registered two boats in one district, and 494 which came into it have complied with the
Act, as far as registration goes; though whether they have done so as to overcrowding
and the education of their children, 1 greatly doubt, but cannot ascertain, owing to the
above named reason. So convinced are the School Board Authorities of the present