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199 and 202 in the 3 preceding years, and 42 cases of Diphtheria as against
40, 58 and 48.
54 cases of Scarlet Fever were removed to the Hospital, 38 having been
received at Dockwell Lane and 16 at the Mogden Isolation Hospital, and I
am pleased to report that no deaths occurred from this disease, either at the
Hospitals or in the District from this disease.
12 cases of Diphtheria and 5 cases of Enteric Fever were also admitted
into the Mogden Hospital, one case of Enteric Fever ending fatally.
I have not so far laid any stress upon the cases of Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria
and Enteric Fever which occurred in the District, as they are all
within reasonable limits, 133 cases being recorded from these diseases as
against 124, 264 and 278 in the three preceding years. I must, however,
comment upon the improbability of any epidemic of infectious disease having
been brought about by the method you had adopted for the disposal of
sludge at the Sewage Works. It is not necessary for me to enter into the
details of this method of sludge disposal for you have advocated it use
merely as a temporary expedient and not as a permanent process.
I pricked out on the six inch scale ordnance map of the District the
position of the different houses in which cases of Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria
and Enteric Fever had occured during the year and I placed this map in the
Council Chamber for your inspection.
By drawing a series of circles on the map with the tanks at the Sewage
Works as a central point it could be seen that the radius of the circle must
measure 1,600 ft. before a case of Infectious Disease (Diphtheria) was met
with ; it must measure 2,150 ft. before a case of Enteric Fever was met with,
and 2,500 ft. before meeting with another case of Diphtheria, whereas a case
of Scarlet Fever was not met with until the radius was extended to a distance
of 2,800 ft., so that within the area of a circle of which the Sewage
Works is the centre and the diameter is one mile, the diseases I have named
have implicated only three houses.
The area I have described is certainly not very thickly populated, but
there are a number of poorer class houses within it situated nearer to the
Works than the houses in which the cases of Infectious Disease occurred,
and it is but reasonable to suppose that if the method of sewage disposal had
been responsible for the propagation of disease, the greatest sufferers would
have been those living nearest to the works, but this is far from being the