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16
kept the trucks on the sidings longer than was necessary for the
purpose of their business. Since the hearing of the summons,
however, the nuisance has been sensibly less. Certainly no complaints
have been received from the persons who were formerly
aggrieved.
Complaints are frequently made of offensive smells perceptible
in Barnes High Street and on the Terrace, which
apparently are due to offensive deposits on the Middlesex side of
the river. Representations have been made on more than one
occasion to the contiguous Sanitary Authority, but the nuisance
recurs from time to time.
As soon as is possible, after the Sanitary Officers are made
aware of the existence of notifiable disease, the infected house is
visited by myself or the Inspector of Nuisances, all necessary
inquiries are made, and the patient, if thought fit, is removed to the
Isolation Hospital, at Mortlake. The usual statutory notices are
now sent from the Council offices to the householder, and with
them a paper of directions for preventing the spread of disease.
Disinfectants are liberally supplied, when it is desirable so to do,
and disinfection is performed by the Inspector in almost every
case and at the appropriate time. The method employed is that
of disinfection by Nitrous Acid Gas. Mattresses and textile
substances are disinfected, when desired, in the Steam Disinfector
at Mortlake, and the cleansing of infected houses by either landlord
or tenant is frequently insisted on. These methods prove,
in practice, perfectly satisfactory. In fact the public confidence
in them is such that persons not infrequently request the
disinfection of rooms, &c., by the Sanitary Officers after the
occurrence of certain non-notifiable diseases. The high percentage
(70.3 per cent.) of cases of Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria notified
that were removed to the Isolation Hospital in 1901 sufficiently
demonstrates the popularity of that institution. The present