HH62/2/RENFRE/63

Transcription

[Page] 62

space was not adopted. Again, I am afraid the Committees may
have been inclined, at the time, to credit me with a certain undesir-
able mental rigidity when I ventured to object to the substitution of
the phrase 'to the satisfaction of the Medical Officer of Health' in
lieu of some more specific requirement. But my governing feeling
in the matter was that the medical officer should, as far as possible,
be placed above suspicion of favouritism or bias; that, as a general
principle, it is undesirable that public officials should have substantial
possibilities of exercising favouritism. The Committees will find, I
trust, that now that a Code of Regulations has been adopted, its re-
quirements will not be interpreted by me in too literal a fashion.
The only two Regulations of the Code which can lay any claim to
originality are the following:-
'15. Every Dairyman or Purveyor of Milk, upon whose premises
the Medical Officer of Health suspects that there is a person suffering
from a dangerous infectious disease, shall afford free access to that
Officer to any part of the premises; and if the Medical Officer of
Health shall certify, in writing, to the occupier or person in charge
of the premises that there is a risk of infection or contamination of the
milk from the presence of an infected person upon the premises, it
shall be the duty of such occupier or person in charge forthwith to
cause the removal of such infected person to an isolation hospital, or
to some other place approved by the Medical Officer of Health; or
otherwise to cease for a sufficient period, to be defined by the Local
Authority or the Medical Officer of Health, to give, sell, or transmit
any milk from such premises.
'NEW DAIRIES AND COWSHEDS.
'16. The Dairies, Cowsheds, and Milkshops Order, 1885, provides
that - "(1) It shall not be lawful for any person following the trade
"of Cow-keeper or Dairyman to begin to occupy as a dairy or cow-
"shed any building not so occupied at the commencement of this
"Order, unless and until he first makes provision to the reasonable
"satisfaction of the Local Authority, for the lighting and the ventila-
"tion, including air space, and the cleansing, drainage, and water
"supply, of the same, while occupied as a dairy or cow-shed. (2) It
"shall not be lawful for any such person to begin so as to occupy
"any such building without giving one month's notice in writing to
"the Local Authority of his intention so to do." In order to give
effect to these provisions it is required that with the notice referred
to, the Cowkeeper or Dairyman shall furnish a plan and sections of
the building upon a scale of not less than 1/8 of an inch (along with a
tracing thereof to be retained for the use of the Local Authority),
showing the provision made for the lighting, ventilation, and internal
drainage of the same, together with a block plan of the premises,
showing the general arrangement and position of the water-supply,

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external drainage, and dungstead, together with a specification of the
mode of construction and the materials to be used."
Already a considerable number of proprietors who proposed to
effect alterations on farm-steadings and dairies, or who desired to an-
ticipate the operation of the Dairy Regulations, have invited us to
consult with them with respect to these alterations, and I believe
such consultations have proved mutually advantageous. A good deal
of quiet work has already been accomplished in this way.

COMMON LODGING-HOUSES.

Believing that it would be of little use to attempt to deal systema-
tically with Common Lodging-houses until a code of Lodging-house
Regulations for the county had been adopted, I made no effort in
that direction during the year, dealing simply with those cases which
circumstances brought immediately under my notice. One Lodging-
house I certified as unfit for human habitation.
In the early winter I drew up a draft code of Regulations for sub-
mission to the District Committee. This was duly discussed, slightly
amended, and finally accepted by the two Districts in common. It
now awaits formal confirmation by the Board of Supervision.

SLAUGHTER-HOUSES.

The condition of the village slaughter-houses in the county leaves
much to be desired - from every point of view. With respect to these,
again, I did not attempt to do much during the past year, crowded
as it was with other more pressing work. I hope to be able to re-
port next year that the question has been dealt with in a systematic
fashion, and upon a uniform plan, all over the county.

BAKEHOUSES.

Retail bakehouses are consigned to the peculiar care of the medical
officer of health, under the Factory Acts; pressure of other work
here again prevented my taking up the subject in earnest, and I
simply dealt with such cases as obtruded themselves upon my
notice.

REFUSE DISPOSAL AND SCAVENGING IN VILLAGES.

Under this heading I must, however briefly, treat of the greatest
blot upon the sanitation of the county, as indeed of all the other
counties in Scotland.