HH62/1/AYR/9

Transcription

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PRESENT SANITARY CONDITION OF THE
COUNTY.

The general sanitary condition of Ayrshire may be considered
a fair average of districts similarly constituted as regards distribution
of population, industries, &c. In the greater number of the populous
places in the county it is satisfactory to note that public water sup-
plies have replaced the old insanitary wells. While the water supply
of the towns and chief villages have been thus improved, it is to be
regretted that the drainage in the majority of these places has not
received the same attention. We hope that this state of matters
will be improved by forming the larger villages into Special Drainage
Districts. The most apparent insanitary matter in connection with
those populous places is the method of disposal of excremental filth
and other refuse. Such accumulations of filth in ashpits, dung-
steads, &c. as are found in the immediate neighbourhood of dwellings
cannot be otherwise than inimical to health, and I am afraid that the
present powers of Sanitary Authorities under the Public Health Acts
are insufficient for remedying this evil. In those places which do
not become formed into burghs (where they have such powers) the
formation of Special Scavenging and Cleansing Districts, with local
assessment, in which the Local Authority would undertake the
cleansing, appears to be the best method. For this further legisla-
tion would be necessary. It may be noted that in the mining
villages the cleansing is carried out by the proprietors, and not left
to the householders as in other villages. The condition of the slaughter-
houses, owing to their proximity to dwellings, faulty construction,
and unsatisfactory arrangements for the removal of refuse, require,
in many cases, to be improved, and the District Committees have
under their consideration bye-laws for regulating such.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SANITARY
ACTS.

The Public Health Act has been satisfactorily in operation all
over the county during the last seven or eight months of the year,
and the Local Authorities in the various Districts seem anxious to
carry out the provisions of this Act. The removal of nuisances,
water supply, drainage, condition of lodging-houses and slaughter-
houses, provision of isolation hospitals, &c., have been engaging the
attention of the District Committees and Sanitary Staff, resulting in
various improvements.
The Housing of the Working Classes Act. - This important Act,
which was passed in 1890, consolidates and amends a group of Acts
relating to the housing of the working classes. Part I. of the Act
applies to burghs only; Part III., which deals with working class
lodging-houses, may or may not be adopted; but Part II., which
refers to unhealthy dwelling-houses, is in force both in urban and
rural districts. From its importance some of its provisions may be
noted here; Sections 30-32 declare that it shall be the duty of the

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Local Authority to cause inspection to be made of their district,
with a view to ascertain whether any dwelling-house therein is in a
state so dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for human
habitation; that it shall be the duty of the Medical Officer, either
on his own initiative or on the complaint o four or more house-
holders, to make a representation to the Local Authority with
regard to any such house; and that the Local Authority are re
quired to take proceedings under the Public Health Act to have the
house closed until it is rendered fit for habitation.
Several house in the county will probably fall to be
dealt with under this Act. In two of the districts I
have brought the uninhabitable condition of certain houses
before the District Committees, and the matter is under
consideration. Although the number of houses which might
be condemned in virtue of this Act may be comparatively few, there
are at the same time a considerable number with more or less grave
sanitary defects, particularly that of dampness. The chief cause of
dampness in houses I usually find to be due both to site and con-
struction. As a great many houses - miners' rows, &c. - are built
upon the damp clay soil without rendering the foundations imperme-
able to ground moisture by concreting or otherwise, while there is no
damp-proof course in the walls, the cause of damp in such houses is
obvious. In others, the ground outside the walls is on a higher
level than the floors. It is apparent that to improve the condition
of dwellings in the non-burghal districts of the county there should
be statutory powers to prevent the building of new houses until
plans of the proposed dwellings were first submitted to, and approved
by, the Local Authorities. It is needless to state that our Public
Health Act, which is now a quarter of a century old, contains no
such powers.
The Rivers Pollution Prevention Act. - This Act, which has
hitherto been a dead letter in the hands of the old Sanitary
Authorities, is now receiving some attention. While the greater
number of our streams in this county can hardly be said to be
sufficiently pure for domestic purposes, there are but few which may
be considered grossly polluted. The only cases of river pollution
which I have brought before the notice of the Local Authorities are
those of the river Irvine, west of Kilmarnock, and the Rye, a
tributory of the Garnock, at Dalry. In the case of the former I
made a report to the County Council, in which I pointed out that
the river Irvine was grossly polluted by the burgh of Kilmarnock,
the Sanitary Authority of that burgh having hitherto failed to adopt
any method to render the sewage of the town innocuous before dis-
charging it into the river Irvine. This report was remitted to the
Kilmarnock District Committee by the County Council. It does
not come within my province to advise the Kilmarnock Burgh
Authority as to any special method for avoiding the pollution of the
river Irvine, but I am satisfied that it is quite practicable to effect
this without any great expense for such an important burgh as Kil-
marnock. In regard to the Rye, I showed that the attempt at