No progress in this matter has been made since my last report, a conference with a Committee of the Board of Guardians, with a view to the appropriation of a portion of the stone yard at the Dispensary Buildings, Mary Place, Potteries, having proved abortive. I cannot say I regret this result, as I do not consider the site a desirable one. The mortuary should be quite distinct from any association with pauperism, and though privacy of site is desirable, I hold that it should be placed in the most respectable and the most central locality that can be obtained, in order to ensure its being used. I am still of opinion that the
should, if possible, be so far associated with the mortuary as to enable one and the same person to have the charge of both establishments. Proceedings in respect of both are alike at a standstill, because we have not been able to procure a site. Fortunately, during a considerable portion of the year there has not been very much need of a chamber, so far as need depends on the prevalence of infectious disease; but I am of opinion that a great amount of good sanitary work might be done with an efficient chamber, if only in purifying by heat the often foul and otherwise offensive bedding and clothing of the poor. Latterly, owing to the increased prevalence of scarlet fever, and also during the latter period of 1874, a good deal of disinfection has been satisfactorily carried out for your Vestry by Messrs. Wellan & Co., of Manchester Mews, Walmer Road, Notting Hill, by chemical agents and heat combined. As to the value of disinfection properly done there can be no doubt and I am not acquainted with a single instance in which clothing, bedding, &c., that has been properly submitted to the process, has been the medium of contagion.
No steps were taken during the year to supply the parish with these valuable institutions. I hope, however, that the subject will be taken up again before long, your Vestry having already expressed an opinion favourable to the principle. I have no doubt that in a few years, and at whatever reasonable cost, Baths and Wash-houses will be regarded as indispensable parts of a well-regulated system of sanitary administration.
The subject of sewer ventilation has made little or no progress during the year, and, as usual, numerous complaints have been received of noxious smells emanating from the gullies and ventilators. Each case has been dealt with as far as possible; and in many of the cases charcoal filters have been introduced, with the result of putting a stop to complaints. I am, nevertheless, somewhat sceptical as to the value of this plan, as I cannot divest my own mind of the suspicion that they impede ventilation, and may prove effectual only by preventing the escape of foul air. The subject was brought very prominently before your Vestry during the current year, in consequence of numerous complaints by inhabitants of Elsham-road of bad smells, not only in the roadway, but also in the houses. I made an exhaustive report on the locality, and advised measures for diminishing pressure in the sewers, by opening up blind ends, and so allowing the gas to circulate, or, at least, to escape innocuously into the open air, rather than into the houses. I described the sanitary defects which existed in the houses, and recommended ventilation of the house drains by independent pipes carried from the highest point of the drain to some distance above the parapets of the houses, and I pointed out that this remedy alone would go far to remove the cause of complaint. To what extent the plans have been carried out I have not yet ascertained, but it is certain that a long period had since elapsed without any communication on the subject having been received in my department.