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TO THE HONOURABLE
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISION.
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,
I HAVE the honour to submit to you my
Report on Peeblesshire for the year ending 1891.
The County of Peebles has the wide area of 354
square miles, but is thinly populated. Altogether
the number living within the area of jurisdiction
of the County Local Authority at the present moment
is less than 9000.
There are two Burghs in the County, namely,
those of Peebles and Innerleithen. The former has
a Medical Officer of Health. The latter is without
one, but has approached a Committee of the Councils
of Mid and West Lothian and Peeblesshire with the
view of obtaining my services.
The most populous places, excluding these Burghs,
are West Linton, Broughton, Calzeat, Skirling, Romanno
Bridge, Mountain Cross, and Drumelzier in the West, |
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Eddleston in the North, Tweedsmuir in the South, and
Walkerburn and Traquair towards the Eastern portion
of the County.
The sanitary state of the County will compare
favourably with any other in Scotland, but, as in all
Counties, there are many conditions calling for remedy.
The village of WEST LINTON has for long been a
Special Water District, and it has a plentiful supply.
Regarding the quality of this water I have not as yet
been able to satisfy myself. It was certainly until
a few months ago extremely liable to be fouled, but,
owing to the energetic action of Mr. Anderson, the
County Sanitary Inspector, one of these likely causes
of pollution has been removed. The village has no
drainage system. Water-closets are in some houses,
and they drain to the Lyne Water. Other houses
have dry closets. Some have no conveniences.
BROUGHTON VILLAGE has a population of about
60. Its water supply is by gravitation from the
surrounding high ground. Nine of the 16 houses
have closet accommodation, the others have none.
Any scavenging is done by the roadman in the
ordinary course of his work on the road.
CALZEAT is an adjoining village with population
of 50, and most of its water supply is by pump
wells. Its closets and scavenging arrangements are
like those of Broughton.
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The village of SKIRLING has a population of over
100. Its houses are built on three sides of the
village 'green,' where is situated the village pump
supplying all the inhabitants with the exception of
a few at one end, who get their supply from a spring.
A few of the houses have closet accommodation in
the gardens, each household doing its own scavenging.
The small village of DRUMELZIER, one of the most
picturesquely situated spots in the County, is in a
very insanitary state, and is to receive immediate
attention. Its water supply is from Powsail Burn.
Its closet accommodation is nil.
EDDLESTON, five miles north of the town of Peebles,
is composed largely of small houses, which get their
water supply from Darnhall Policies by a pipe laid
to the village. There are altogether over 20 houses
(with a population under 100), six of which have
closets. There is no system of scavenging.
The few houses of TRAQUAIR (12) get their water
from a pump well fed by surface water, and therefore
liable to pollution.
The village of WALKERBURN is a prosperous place
with 1300 inhabitants, but a few of its houses are
over-crowded. Its water supply is by gravitation,
which is furnished from Walker Burn and Kirna
Burn through private enterprise. Dry-closets are
the rule, although the better houses have water- |
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closets, the drainage from which ultimately finds its
way into the River Tweed. There is no scavenging
system. The mill proprietors and farmers remove
the contents of ash-pits, etc., periodically.
The Farmers' houses and Farm Servants' quarters
throughout the County are as good as, if not superior
to, most of their class elsewhere. The position, how-
ever, of many of their wells renders the latter liable
to be polluted, and they are nearly all mainly fed by
surface water.
One of the first questions regarding sanitary ad-
ministration which I was asked to advise upon, when
appointed six months ago, related to the then existing
staff of Sanitary Officials. What I recommended was
adopted, and the services of all the Local Medical
Officers of Health and of all the Local Sanitary
Inspectors were dispensed with.
I have made special inquiries during my six months
in office into the water supply and requirements of
Dairies. This I did in conjunction with the Sanitary
Inspector, who is likewise Inspector of Dairies, and
who reported thereon to the District Committee.
I was asked by the Committee to draw up Draft
Bye-Laws for the regulation of Dairy premises. This
I did, and submitted them to the Committee. I made
them stringent, and hope, if they are adopted by the
Committee, that they will meet the approval of the
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Board. In recommending the adoption of Bye-Laws
of a stringent nature, I pointedly put before the Com-
mittee my reasons by letter, which I here quote -
'To any one who considers some of these regulations too
stringent, I would respectfully point out this fact - that it is
only by means of Bye-Laws that we can hope to put an end
to the selling of milk from filthy premises unsuited for the
purpose, and it lies with the District Committee to put
them or not put them in force in any special instance, there
can be no reasonable objection to their being stringent. It
is on this account that they are framed in such a manner as
likely to prove useful.
'There is no more perfect medium for spreading disease
than infected milk, and too much attention cannot be given
to the cleanliness of premises and to the conditions favour-
able to the healthiness of the cows. From recently acquired
statistical information, it is clear that Tuberculosis in cattle
(which can be conveyed to man through the milk of affected
animals) is, just as in the human subject, fostered by impure
air and want of sufficient cubic space.'
It is for these reasons, then, that I trust the Bye-
Laws, as drafted by me, may be adopted as they stand,
or, if altered, may not be in such manner changed as
to detract from their stringency.
Some dwellings have occupied my special attention.
Amongst these was a house at Dolphinton, in a cellar
of which a boy had been long confined. The room
he occupied was dark, and in the filthiest condition
imaginable. The two women in charge of these pre-
mises were brought up by the Society for the Pre-
vention of Cruelty to Children for cruelty, and were |
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sentenced to imprisonment. The house was, at the
instance of the Sanitary Inspector, properly cleansed.
Again, at Jedderfield, about a mile from the town
of Peebles, a very insanitary house was found. It was
damp, and its condition was due to a badly arranged
basement on a sloping site. This, on being pointed
out to the proprietor, was in an exemplary manner
at once remedied by (1) cutting off all connection with
ground air from below, and freely ventilating to the
outer air a space between the basement and the floor;
and (2) by causing to be constructed a free area
between the back wall and the ground which abutted
high up on the building, thus removing one of the
causes of dampness.
I would here draw attention to the great desirability
of securing for all Local Authorities powers to regulate
the occupation of new buildings. If it were required
that all newly erected buildings (defining the term)
should not be occupied until certified to the Local
Authority as being in a good sanitary state and
properly planned, we should, by a slow but sound
method, ultimately secure one of the greatest wants
of our time - healthy houses. It is almost as cheap
to erect a sanitary dwelling as one that may be most
insanitary, and supervision in this direction is a
desideratum.
The only factories outside the Burghs are at
Walkerburn. Their condition is satisfactory.
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I visited the bake-houses, of which there are three
outside the Burghs, Two of these are in West Linton.
In one of the two are employed 2 men and a lad of
16. It has a retail shop in connection, which shop
is in direct communication with the dwelling-house.
This bake-house has a wooden floor, is small, and has
no proper means of ventilation.
The other has employed in it 3 men and a lad of
15. This bake-house is distinct from the retail shop
and from the dwelling-house. It has a tiled floor, and
is clean and well ventilated.
The third bake-house is situated at Walkerburn,
and belongs to the Co-operative Society there. It is
large and airy, though not specially fitted with
artificial ventilators, and its floor is of concrete. It
seems fairly well kept.
As bake-houses are likely centres for the spread
of disease, it is to my mind essential that they should
be under stringent Bye-Laws, and that they should in
every instance be separated from, and have no connec-
tion with, a dwelling-house. The way to secure this is
for Local Authorities to obtain the necessary powers
to frame such; for the existing regulations under the
Statute are too loose and indefinite.
Outside the Burghs there is no lodging-house to
my knowledge that can come under the category
of Common Lodging-houses.' |
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The only case where I tried to put the Food and
Drugs Act into operation was where a consignment
of kippered herrings very badly tainted was made
from Edinburgh by a fishmonger (well known for his
dealings in food unfitted for human consumption) to
a hawker in Peeblesshire, who disposed of them to at
least two shop-keepers outside the Burghs. Informa-
tion of the consignment was kindly given me in
Edinburgh. I wired to Mr. Anderson, Sanitary
Inspector, who found the fish in two shops in West
Linton, and he had the intended food destroyed.
Further proceedings were not taken, but the warning
the shop-keepers have had will, I trust, make them
more careful of their purchases in future.
With regard to the Rivers Pollution Act, I have to
state that I see no reason for applying it at the present
time. No doubt the River Tweed receives pollution
from factories on its banks, but those are com-
paratively inconsiderable, taking into account the
volume of the stream. It is likewise contaminated
by town and village sewage, but it is to be noted
that its water is not used for potable purposes. The
water of the river and of most of its tributaries is
well stocked with fish, and for all purposes for
which it is absolutely necessary it is sufficiently pure.
I made special inquiry into three outbreaks of
infectious disease - (1) of scarlet fever at Stobo, which
was imported from either Edinburgh or Berwick; (2)
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of an influenza attack at a farm, where it caused some
anxiety; and (3) of typhoid fever at Traquair. At
Traquair there were four cases convalescent at the time
of my visit, right opposite to large dairy premises, and
one of the workers in these premises at the moment I
called resided in the house where the fever existed.
This led me to make inquiry as to the health
condition of those supplied with the milk. I found
that nearly the whole of the milk from this dairy
was disposed of in the Burgh of Innerleithen, and
that in this Burgh, among those supplied during the
same period as the cases were down with the disease
in Traquair, there were at least 10 with the same
sickness. This seemed more than a mere coin-
cidence. The discovery of the four cases was quite
accidental, and made while engaged in inspecting the
dairy premises along with the Sanitary Inspector,
and it well illustrates the importance of ' Notifica-
tion,' which, had it been in force, might have led
to measures which perhaps would have prevented
most of these illnesses.
I strongly advised the Local Authority to lose no
time in adopting the Notification of Diseases Act of
1889, with the result that this Act comes into force
on the 1st day of February. The next question of
importance to occupy the attention of the Committee
will be Hospital accommodation. I have laid a letter
before them asking its immediate consideration. One |
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Hospital should, I think, prove adequate for the
requirements of the County and Burghs, provided it
be placed in the neighbourhood of the town of
Peebles, which is as nearly as possible the centre
of the County.
From information furnished me through the kind-
ness of Dr. Gunn, Peebles, and Dr. Cameron, Inner-
leithen, I am enabled to state generally that epidemic
diseases, excepting influenza, have been little felt.
Hooping-cough of a mild type occurred in spring
in the neighbourhood of Peebles. There were some
cases of diphtheria and typhoid, and a few sporadic
cases of scarlet fever throughout the County. In-
fluenza was severe at the beginning of the year and
died away considerably after spring, but it never
disappeared, and became again epidemic in December.
The healthiest month of the year was September;
the most unhealthy, December.
Owing to the refusal of the Registrars of Drumel-
zier, Stobo, Tweedsmuir, and Manor to supply me
with the births and deaths of their respective districts
at the fee offered by the District Committee, I am
unable to state the mortality in the County. This
is much to be regretted, but it is hoped that shortly
we may get that part of the Registration Act of
England relating to returns extended to Scotland,
or other legislative powers passed, making it in-
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cumbent on Registrars to furnish these essential
particulars of statistical information.
A deputation of Medical Officers lately waited
upon the Lord Advocate, in the unavoidable absence
of the Secretary for Scotland, to ask assistance in
the matter.
I have the honour to be,
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,
Your obedient Servant,
W. J. BROCK, D.Sc.,
Medical Offcer of Health. |
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