HH62/45/197

Transcription

[Page] 14

The County Council and District Committees have, by their courtesy and
support, done their utmost to lessen the labours of the Public Health Department,
and, personally, I would take the opportunity of returning thanks to them for the
kindness and consideration shown.

JOHN T. GRAHAM,
County Medical Officer.
31st March, 1895.

[Note] 196

Perth District.

The population of the Perth District, estimated to the middle of 1894, was
20,886. During the year there were 468 Births (227 Males and 241 Females), giving
a Birth-rate of 22.40, and 307 Deaths (166 Males and 141 Females), giving a Death-
rate of 14.69. In 1893 the Birth-rate was 26.98, and the Death-rate 16.12. The
Natural Increase of the population during 1894 was 161, against 231 in 1893.
Deaths in persons over 60 years of age were 137, or 44.6 per cent. of the total,
and of infants under one year there were 44 Deaths, of which 17 were due to
developmental causes, giving an Infant Mortality of 94.0, against 78.3 in 1893.
Zymotic Diseases caused 29 Deaths in 1894, against 26 in 1893, giving a Zymotic
Death-rate of 1.38, against 1.22 in 1893.
The advance made in the sanitary condition of the Perth District, referred to in
the previous Reports, has been steadily maintained during 1894. The improvements
of the past year have been rather the result of action taken in former years and of the
ordinary routine work, coupled with a steady enforcement of the provisions of the
Public Health Acts, than of the execution of any large works. Of the large works
referred to in the Report for 1893, as likely to be completed during 1894, none were
completed. The delay in carrying out these works was not due to any want of will
on the part of the District Committee, or those directly concerned in the schemes,
but to the difficulty, in the case of water supplies, of obtaining water on reasonable
terms, and, in the case of sewage purification works, of obtaining land on which to
erect the necessary works. As an instance of how greatly the obtaining of a water
supply is obstructed by so-called scientists, it may be mentioned that in one agree-
ment drawn up under their guidance, the following clause occurs:- "The
Proprietor reserves to himself the full right to cultivate and manure the whole or
any portion of the gathering ground . . . . . . . which is at present in
pasture, free from any claim or charge, at the instance of the County Council,
in respect of pollution or otherwise." Again, in the carrying out of sewage
purification works, the usual difficulties met with are that when attention is first
drawn to the necessity for such works being undertaken, those pecuniarily interested
discover that nothing but clean water passes through the drains, and that no offence
can possibly be caused. When a statement is produced showing how many sinks,
&c., communicate with the drains, it is then alleged that the purification works will
cause an "intolerable nuisance." That some so-called sewage purification works have
proved a nuisance is true enough. Both settling ponds and irrigation fields con-
nected with Burghs in the County have, from neglect, come to such a condition, but
were these same works attended to as they should be, nothing in the shape of a
nuisance would result. It is confidently hoped that the proposed purification works
at Scone will soon be in operation, and it will then be possible to show that sewage
purification can be carried out without any offence.
The sanitary condition of the villages in the District has undergone a most
marked change for the better; the results of the operations of the village scavengers
having exceeded even the most sanguine expectations. In some of the villages,
however, there exists a crying need for the introduction of a water supply, or

[Note 197]