HH62/1/ABERD/45

Transcription

[Page] 44

also the average death rate in the same parish during the
ten years from 1861 to 1870 (inclusive):-

[Table inserted]

GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
DISTRICT. - The Garioch District is purely agricultural. In
regard to sanitation, the same defects are found as in the other
districts of the County. Many of the houses of the working
classes present conditions that are not always in accordance
with the maintenance of good health by the inmates, and
this is especially true as regards the children. Moreover,
when sickness comes upon them it is apt to be aggravated by
these conditions. I would beg to refer to my remarks on this
subject in some of my other district reports.
Many of the sleeping apartments provided for the farm
servants are also very insanitary in regard to position, cubic
space, ventilation, and other matters. Improvements in all
these directions will require some time to accomplish, but is

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a matter of the utmost importance. The general education of
the working classes themselves in sanitary matters is of not
less consequence, and will effect no less an improvement as
regards health.

VILLAGES.

PORT ELPHINSTONE. - The water supply here will require im-
provement. It is got by pumps which, in the lower part of
the village, lie at a lower level than the ashpits and privies.
The water is in danger of pollution, and a systematic analysis
will have to be made, and the water dealt with according to
the results.
The drainage of the place is bad. There is no regular
sewerage system, the drains being simply of stone. In the
upper part of the village the water is supplied by dug wells
which, from the different nature of the ground, are not so
exposed to danger of contamination.

DAVIOT. - The water supply is here exceptionally unsatisfactory.
The well from which almost all the drinking water is
taken is at too great a distance from the village; while the
pumps beside the houses are open to the gravest suspicion,
from their proximity to the churchyard, to which they lie
at a lower level. I took a sample from one of these pumps,
and, on analysis, found it to be greatly polluted.

INCH. - The water supply here is good, but the drainage will
require attention, as some of the drains are laid at too high a
level to admit of being connected to the houses on one side
of the street.

KEMNAY. - The water supply is somewhat deficient in summer.
With regard to the village, Dr. Henry, Medical Officer for
Kemnay, reports:- "The houses are mostly new and have
been built at as little expense as possible, and with no atten-
tion to sanitary requirements. The village is supplied with
good water by a system of properly jointed iron pipes, but
the supply is apt to run dry in a protracted drought. There
are also a considerable number of pump wells in which the
water is easily reached at a depth of from 20 to 30 feet, and
these are frequently liable to contamination from middens and
cesspools, of which there is a considerable number, although
the peculiarly receptive nature of the sub-soil - a dry gravel
- has hitherto prevented serious trouble from this source.
There is no proper sewerage system possible with the present
water supply, which is quite insufficient for proper flushing,
though in the lower part of the village there is a drain flushed
periodically by water pumped into a cistern for that purpose.
"Beside Mr. Fyfe's quarry there are several blocks of
tenement houses supplied with pure water, but the ashpits,
&c., attached to these are often in bad condition and require