HH62/45/199

Transcription

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drainage, or both, and as yet no steps have been taken by the inhabitants to secure
these. In Scone the necessity for a proper water supply has been proved by the
results of analyses of the water taken from wells in various parts of the village, as in
every instance the samples have been found to be more or less polluted. No steps
have been taken to complete the system of drainage which at present only exists in
a very imperfect form in Scone, but it is hoped that the District Committee will
find means for hastening on both of these important improvements during 1895.
In the village of Errol a proper system of drainage is a necessity, as the present
method of utilising the gutters at the sides of the streets for the purpose of sewers
causes a state of matters offensive to sight and smell, and dangerous to health,
especially in hot weather. The question of securing a pure water supply for this
village must also be faced, as analysis has shown that the few wells are bad on
which the inhabitants depended for water for domestic purposes, and on which the
Parochial Board (then the Local Authority) expended much money in the past with
a view to render them pure. In Stanley the necessity for a proper system of
drainage is urgent, as the present system in which roadside drains and open ditches
are made use of is both dangerous and offensive. In Bankfoot both a water supply
and drainage system are urgently needed, and the District Committee should lose no
time in seeing that these are provided.
The Carse of Gowrie Water Supply District has now, after much trouble,
secured a sufficient supply of water, and it is expected that the water will be available
before summer. The Almondbank and Bridgeton Water Supply District has also
secured a supply of water, and, it is hoped, will soon have the benefit of it.
2. General enquiries have been made into the Sanitary condition of the District,
and many special enquiries have been necessitated in connection with tracing the
source of Infectious Disease, and securing the safe isolation of sufferers from these
diseases. Much extra labour, which was ungrudgingly given, was entailed in getting
the Infectious Disease Notification Act fairly put into operation in the District, and
many special visits were made at the request of local medical men to meet them in
consultation over doubtful cases.
3. No certificates have been granted during the year under the Public Health
Acts, neither has any action been required to be taken in connection with the
sanitary condition of Factories and Workshops.
4. Retail Bakehouses. - There are sixteen of these in operation in the Perth
District; they have been inspected during the year, and found to be kept as required
by the Act. Young persons found employed in the Bakehouses have been reported
to the Inspector of Factories.
5. The arrangement made with the Perth Royal Infirmary, to receive cases of
Infectious Disease from the Perth District, has been fully taken advantage of during
the year, and has been found in practice to work very well. During the year, 38
cases were removed by the Local Authority to Hospital. From his position on the
Acting Staff of the Infirmary, the District Medical Officer has had ample opportunities
for supervising the management of the infectious cases while under treatment. The
accommodation for Infectious Diseases in the Infirmary has proved sufficient, although
the number of Scarlet Fever patients at one time threatened to overfill the wards set
apart for these.
6. During 1894 the Infectious Disease Notification Act has been in operation
in the Perth District, and has, to a certain extent, assisted the Department in dealing
successfully with Infectious Disease; but in many instances, from the fact that no
doctor was in attendance on the patients, the nature of the disease was unrecognised

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until they were hunted up after the notification of later cases infected from them.
In all known cases of Infectious Disease removal of the sick to Hospital has been
recommended, when this was considered necessary for the protection of the public;
and, when removal was refused, isolation of the sick from the healthy has been insisted
upon. Houses in which cases of Infectious Disease occurred have been examined,
and defects ordered to be remedied as soon as possible after the recovery of the
patients.
7. Respiratory Diseases caused 30 deaths during 1894, as compared with 52 in
1893. Of the 30, six occurred in children under one year, and fourteen were in
persons over sixty years of age.
Tubercular Diseases caused 45 deaths during 1894, as compared with 34 in
1893. Of the 45 deaths, 35, or 77.7 per cent. were due to Pulmonary Phthisis.
This shows an increase of 11 from Phthisis during 1894, and is accounted for by the
prevalence of Influenza during the previous year. Deaths from Tubercular Diseases
formed 14.6 per cent. of the total, and show a very large mortality still due to them,
a mortality which might be largely reduced were full powers given to Local
Authorities.
Nervous Diseases caused 21 deaths during 1894, as compared with 32 in 1893.
Of the 21 deaths, 15 were in persons over 60 years of age.
Circulatory Diseases caused 47 deaths during 1894, as compared with 34 in
1893. Of the 47 deaths, 33 were in persons over 60 years of age.
Diseases of the Digestive System caused 24 deaths during 1894, as compared
with 19 in 1893.
Cancer and Malignant Diseases caused 16 deaths during 1894, as compared
with 16 in 1893. Of the 16 deaths, 7 occurred in males and 9 in females.
Old Age. - This was given as the cause of death for 35, or 11.4 per cent. of the
total. In 1893 the deaths from Old Age were 64.
Violence. - Eight deaths were attributed to Violence in 1894, as compared with
14 in 1893.
Zymotic Diseases caused 29 deaths during 1894, as compared with 26 in 1893.
The Zymotic Death-Rate was 1.38 per 1000 of the population.
Diphtheria caused 11 deaths, as compared with 12 in 1893. In all 25 cases of
Diphtheria were reported during 1894, thus giving a case mortality of 44.0 per
cent. Many of the cases occurred singly throughout the District, but groups of
cases occurred in Invergowrie and Stanley. Six patients suffering from Diphtheria
were removed to Hospital, and all recovered; the fatal cases occurred amongst
patients treated at home.
Scarlet Fever caused 6 deaths, as compared with 1 in 1893. in all 124 cases of
Scarlet Fever were reported during the year. Removal to Hospital was carried out
in 26 of these 124 cases, and all of the patients removed made good recoveries. The
type of the Disease during 1894, although mild in the main, showed a greater
malignancy than in 1893. A large proportion (38) of the cases reported occurred in
Bankfoot and its immediate neighbourhood, and were doubtless due to failure to
notify on the part of some of the guardians of the patients.
Enteric Fever caused 1 death during 1894, as compared with 2 in 1893. In all
21 cases were reported during 1894. The fatal case occurred in a young man who
was removed to Hospital from Errol at an advanced stage of the disease. As usual,
a large proportion (8) were in Bankfoot, and it behoves the inhabitants to bestir
themselves to have the sanitary condition of the village remedied by its formation
into a Special Water and Drainage District.

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