HH62/45/209

Transcription

[Page] 26

somewhat difficult. In some of the outlying Districts much difficulty was experienced
from the fact that no doctor had been called, and in many instances it was only by
house to house visits that the cases were discovered. Much valuable assistance was
obtained from teachers in some of the Public Schools, who placed the school registers
at the disposal of the Medical Officer, so that the reason of any absences could be
ascertained. In Pitlochry and Moulin this was exceptionally helpful, and it was
by the co-operation of the teachers that it was possible to keep the schools open
and well attended during two outbreaks of the disease.
Enteric Fever. - No deaths were due to Enteric Fever during 1894. Four
cases of the disease were reported; these were in different parts of the District,
and had no connection with each other. During the past two years the Highland
District has been remarkably free from cases of Enteric Fever.
Influenza caused 1 death during 1894, as compared with 4 in 1893.
Deaths in which the cause was uncertified, or insufficiently stated, were 24 during
1894, as against 35 in 1893, and it is hoped that, as time goes on, the numbers coming
under this heading will be still further reduced.

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Western District.

The population of the Western District, estimated to the middle of 1894, was
9884. During the year there were 241 Births (118 Males and 123 Females), and 151
Deaths (70 Males and 81 Females), giving a Birth-Rate of 24.38, and a
Death-Rate of 15.27, as compared with a Birth-Rate of 21.8, and a death-Rate of
14.8 in 1893. The Natural Increase of the population during the year was 90 as
compared with 78 in 1893. Deaths in persons over 60 years of age were 64, or 42.3
per cent. of the total, and there were 15 deaths in children under one year (8 of which
were due to premature birth), giving an Infant Mortality of 62.2, as compared with
90.5 in 1893. The Zymotic Death-Rate was .809, as compared with .719 in 1893.
Sanitary progress has been well maintained in the Western District during 1894,
and the general condition of the District is exceedingly satisfactory. The excep-
tionally heavy work which was necessitated in the District by the presence of the
large number of navvies who were employed in the contracts for constructing the
West Highland Railway and the Glasgow Water Works Extension has been lessened
by the completion of the contracts and the dispersion of the navvies, thus allowing
the population of the District to return to its normal.
The Western District Committee have been, during the past year, energetically
facing the difficult problem of preventing the pollution of the River Forth by sewage,
and, in so far as Perthshire is concerned, good progress has been made. At Aber-
foyle sub-irrigation has been adopted wherever possible, and the discharge of sewage
into the River has been stopped. There are, however, a number of houses in Aber-
foyle the disposal of whose sewage cannot be so easily accomplished, as the levels and
the impervious nature of the soil render sub-irrigation impossible. There is one way
by which the difficulty might be overcome, that is by raising the sewage by
mechanical power to a sufficient level to allow of its being suitably treated; this
operation need not be an expensive one, as there is ample water power available close
at hand to supply motive power. The Western District of Perthshire have drawn
the attention of the Central District Committee of Stirlingshire to the fact that
sewage from the latter District is allowed to enter the Forth without purification, and
have invited them to join action in the purification of the River, so this work is well
begun.
The Western District Committee having called the attention of the inhabitants
of Killin to the pollution of the Rivers Dochart and Lochay by the sewage from that
Village, the inhabitants petitioned the District Committee to form the Village into a
Special Drainage District; thus it is probable that not only will the pollution of the
river be stopped, but also that the drainage of the Village will be much improved.
The water supply of the Carse Lands, bordering along the River Forth, has been
delayed pending the results of the action which was to be taken by the District
Committee to stop the pollution of the river by sewage; however, matters here seemed
to have reached a crisis at an early period of the year, when a number of cases of
Enteric Fever occurred in several houses which depended on the river water for drink-
ing purposes. The danger was temporarily averted by ordering all water drawn from
the river to be boiled before drinking. With the boiling of the water the disease
ceased, and, as the specific pollution of the river higher up was stopped, there has

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