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"w.c.: plaster off walls, ceiling damp; chimney cannot
"be swept, but must be fired; yard surface defective; sewer
"at back of cottages leaks; nothing done to house for
"10 years." How can people living in such conditions be
healthy? How can a town containing such places be secure from
outbreaks of disease ?
WORKMEN'S DWELLINGS.
Why do the labouring classes live in such houses it may be
asked? Often the reason is that they can get none other.
By acting under the Housing of the Working Classes Act the
Council, without cost to the ratepayers, could provide workmen's
dwellings, which would act as a corrective to the negligent owners
of small property, and in course of time become a valuable
possession of the town.
Richmond (Surrey) and many other places have shown the
way in this great sanitary reform.
COLNE VALLEY WATER.
During the year the quality of the public water supply has
not always been satisfactory, and in one case a fine was
inflicted by the magistrates. This has not prevented the company
from sending water containing matter in suspension into the
district. When I was investigating the probable causes of the
outbreak of Typhoid the company declared that samples should
not be taken from their mains, but only from our taps. It was
not for your officers to stand upon ceremony when disease was
spreading in the town, and the samples were taken with the result
already known to you. The hostile attitude then assumed by the
company induces the reflection that, were the water supply
controlled by a public body the first consideration would be
whether Public Health could be secured by a pure supply. The
directors of a company mainly aim at a high dividend.
WATERLESS CLOSETS.
I have still to regret the existence in the district of water
closets without a water supply. How long will the Council permit
this blot to rest on the sanitary reputation of the town ?
INCREASED ISOLATION ACCOMMODATION.
With the increase of population and of railways comes increased
danger of outbreaks and of invasion of disease. A
Typhoid and Diphtheria block is urgently needed at your hospital.