HH62/45/31

Transcription

[Note] 30

COUNTY OF PERTH.

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
BY THE
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
OF THE
BLAIRGOWRIE DISTRICT.
1891.

COUNTY OF PERTH.

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT BY THE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
OF THE
CENTRAL DISTRICT.
1891.

1. The Central District has an area of 267,504 acres, and a population of 14,554,
according to the Census taken 5th April, 1891. The number of acres to each person
is about 19. Included in the District are five large villages, the populations of which
range from 2,500 to 650, otherwise the inhabitants are widely scattered.
The Births, during the year 1891, were 322, or at the rate of 22.1 per 1000; and
the Deaths were exactly the same in number. Infantile Mortality was at the rate of
77.6 per 1000 births. The Census returns for 1891 show a decrease of population
in the District of 1,704 during the preceding ten years.
It would be well for the Committee to call for a detailed Report on the sanitary
condition of all the large villages in the District (with regard to the disposal of house
refuse, &c.), as it will be from improved sanitation in these, that the most marked results
of the application of the Public Health Act will be obtained. This is fully borne
out by statistics, which show that if the parishes containing large villages are
eliminated from the totals of the District. the mortality falls from 22.1 to 18.8 per
1000, and the infant mortality from 25 to 6.
There is an abundant supply of pure water, by gravitation, to all the large villages;
but in some of them the drainage is not in keeping with modern ideas of sanitation,
the gutters at the side of the public streets being utilized for this purpose. When
the overflow of cesspools and sinks (which are often not much better than cesspools
in respect to the matter they discharge) falls into these gutters, it affords a good
opportunity for the spread of such diseases as typhoid fever.
In some of the country districts the water supply is not at all in a satisfactory
condition; in the Parish of Madderty, for example, along a ridge extending from
Crieff to St. David's, it is difficult, owing to the geological formation, to obtain water
by means of wells. In this case, however, the proprietors are doing all in their power
to provide a sufficient supply. Taken as a whole, the Central District may be said
to be well supplied with water.
In a few of the cases where detailed examinations of farm steadings have been
made, it was found that considerable improvements in the way of sanitation were
required; however, when the new Dairy Regulations come into force, matters of this
kind, along with the individual water supplies, will be remedied.

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