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fall is not discovered till the father or mother or a
child of the family, has been killed by the fever
that has been brought about by bad drainage. I
submit that at the present moment, this is one of
the most urgent necessities of our sanitary condition
that the drains of every house be in a condition to
prevent the escape of poisonous effluvia. Where
builders can be shown to have neglected their duty
in this respect, they ought to be subject to some
penalty or punishment of so sharp and decisive a
character as to prevent the repetition of the offence.
Since the year 1856, upwards of 400 houses
have been entirely supplied with new drain pipes,
of which details have been given by the Sanitary
Inspector in my previous Annual Reports. In
above 1,500 other cases the drains of houses have
been repaired, unstopped, cleansed, or connected
with the main sewer.
The water closets in an overcrowded population
require constant attention. As I have said before
the Assistant Sanitary Inspector has much of his
time employed in visiting the water closets of certain
districts of the Parish. Since 1856 I find that
upwards of 3,000 water closets have thus been
cleansed, white-washed, repaired, ventilated, or in
some way or another better adapted to the health
of the inmates of the houses where they exist.