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bodies—and that they have no direct communication
with any drain or closet. There is no need
for the use of any filters, and indeed with one or
two exceptions, most filters are valueless and are
likely in the long run to be more productive of harm
than good. It is said that there are households
where the care, or it might be called scare, is so
extreme that no drinking water is used save aerated
distilled water; this however besides being wholly
unnecessary, is positively—in the case of children
especially—unwise, for reasons that medical men
can explain.
Sanitary Inspector's
Report
Appended to this is the report furnished by
Mr. Nesfield, the Sanitary Inspector. His
report for 1896, though only extending over nine
months, showed the earnest and capable manner
in which he took up his duties; but the report for
1897 will I think bring home to every member of
the Council the large capabilities for work that
exist in the district, and will speak for itself as to
the worth and efficiency of the Officer whose duty
it is to supervise and advise in these matters. In
1896 some seventy houses were re-drained under
his direction; and now he reports that in 1897 no
less than one hundred and twenty defective house
drains have been entirely relaid and properly trapped,
and in every instance the water test was
applied before any drain was covered in or
approved. It will serve to show the importance
of this work, when it is estimated that the cost of
re-draining these houses amounted to about
£3500, or an average of nearly £30 an house.
As houses change hands, the incoming tenants
require that matters sanitary should be known to
be in good order, and drains are properly tested
for that purpose, and defects soon discovered if
they exist. It is especially noticeable that the
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