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34
Sanitary Work.
The routine work done by the Health Department during the year is
set out in detail in the three Tables numbered C1, C2 and C3 printed at the
end of this Report. These Tables are included in the Reports of all the
Medical Officers of Health in the County, and should therefore form a fair
guide to estimating the amount of work done in each locality, but till some
common definition is adopted of what is to be included under such headings
as "Inspection" or "Notice" no fair comparison can really be made. A
step towards making these Tables more uniform has been made this year by
reducing them from four to three, and so lessening the number of different
headings under which the details are divided.
It is to be feared that these Tables will not be carefully read by many;
they are no doubt dry, and, as they contain nothing exciting or sensational,
uninteresting to most people. But they form a record of daily and for the most
part unobtrusive work efficiently carried out by the officers of the Council,
that is of the highest importance to the health and well-being of the inhabitants
of the district. The credit of this work is almost entirely due to the Inspectors,
for only a very small portion of it is done by the Medical Officer of Health.
Certain facts included in these Tables may be specially pointed out
The total number of inspections of houses, premises, etc., was 10539.
101 premises were inspected on account of complaints received, and 200 in
connection with infectious diseases. 814 houses were inspected in the course
of house-to-house work, and 330 premises were kept under periodical inspection.
3211 cautionary notices were given, of which 704 were verbal. 341
Statutory Orders were issued.
Legal proceedings were only taken in four cases, and convictions were
obtained in all. Three of the cases were for the recovery of expenses in
connection with necessary sanitary work carried out by the Council on private
premises, and the fourth was to obtain an order to close a polluted well. 9
dwelling-houses were closed as unfit for habitation.
The number of workshops and work-places in the district amounted
during the year to 209, and in connection with them 73 contraventions of
the Factory Acts wore discovered and remedied.