HH62/1/AYR/3

Transcription

REPORT.

To the Convener and Members of the County Council of
the County of Ayr.

MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,
I HAVE the honour to present to you the First
Annual Report of the Medical Officer for the County of Ayr, including
(in Appendix) the Reports upon the four Districts of the same.
For the year under notice such Reports must be in some respects
be more or less fragmentary owing to the fact that the sanitary
administration of the County Council and District Committees only
began to assume shape about the middle of the year, and even yet
the sanitary organisation can hardly be said to be complete. It is,
however, satisfactory to note that the new administration promises
to work well, and that once the sanitary machinery of the Local
Authorities is thoroughly organised a decided improvement upon the
sanitary condition of the county may be confidently expected.
As this is the first Annual Report it may not be out of place
to notice briefly some of the natural features of the county, as these
no doubt exercise an influence on the distribution of disease, although
to a less extent than the immediate local surroundings of the people,
such as dwellings, water supply, drainage, etc.

EXTENT, TOPOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, ETC., OF
AYRSHIRE.

The County of Ayr occupies nearly the whole western coast of
southern Scotland. In shape it is somewhat like an elongated
crescent, terminating nearly in a point both in the north and south,
with the concave side towards the sea. Its extent from the extreme
northern point, near the source of the Kelly Burn at Skelmorlie, to
the most southerly point, at the mouth of Galloway Burn in
Loch Ryan, is 63 miles, but following the coast the distance is about
84 miles. Its greatest breadth is straight east and west across the
centre from Troon to Hareshaw Hill, near Glenbuck, a distance of
28 miles. The area of the county (irrespective of any changes by
order of the Boundary Commissioners) is 1,149 square miles, being
735,262 acres; but of this, 13,033 acres are covered with water,
leaving the land surface 722,229 acres.
Ayrshire exhibits considerable variety both in regard to topo-
graphy and geology. The general aspect of the surface of the
county is undulatory and hilly, the land attaining no great elevation.