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194
1907]
It is now 13 years since the Disinfecting Station was established, during
which period 346,099 large articles removed from infected houses have been
disinfected. At one time this work was performed by a contractor, who
charged on an average 2s. 9d. for each bed, palliasse, or mattress, 6d. each for
blankets, 2s. 6d. for each carpet, and other charges in proportion. If these
charges were in practice to-day, the cost of the disinfection of the articles
mentioned in the subsequent table, which does not include small articles such
as handkerchiefs, stockings, socks, aprons, &c., for each of which a charge of
3d. used to be made, would have been £1,503 3s., whereas the actual cost of
the Disinfecting Station, including repayment of interest on loan, keep of
horses and men's wages, was £869 17s. 7d., or less repayment and interest on
loans, £477 4s. 3d. But apart from these considerations of cost, the work is
better done, for in the old days, the “purification," as it was called, and
rightly so, for it was not sterilization, was effected by bringing sulphurous acid
gas in contact with the goods in a closed chamber. The disinfection was
never thorough, for the gas, not being under pressure, did not permeate the
articles.
The following tables give particulars of the work done by them during
the year, as well as a summary of that carried out in the 13 years 1895-1907.