View report page

11
MEDICAL OFFICER'S REPORT.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,
I have to night to read to you my twenty-sixth Annual Report,
and in doing so, feel that before beginning I have two points to
bring before your notice.
The first one is, that I wish to express my gratitude to the
members of the Board who, without feelings of indifference, listen
patiently to a formal and perhaps dull report; a report of our
proceedings in Sanitary works carried on in the parish which,
when perhaps calculated month by month, are not great, but
which nevertheless may amount to something important as we go
on yearly.
The second is, that in such reports repetition is inevitable, and
should an account of the proceedings be monotonous, I trust it may
be overlooked by the hope that the course we are pursuing is a
safe and sure one, and that we can by our present works hand
down to our descendants a condition of health and enjoyment
which they will regard as the greatest blessing we could bestow
on them.
But we have meanwhile, in the vast and complicated measures
of Sanitary reform, many obstacles which at times appear almost
unsurmountable to contend with.
As you know, there are multitudes of persons whose prejudices,
ignorance, and neglect will be continually acting as impediments to
the advancement and furtherance of our scientific Sanitary
arrangements; and a more lamentable instance of these facts I
cannot bring before your notice than the antagonism of a certain