HH62/2/ROXBUR/19

Transcription

[Page] 18

"that the contents may be kept dry. Instead, all water
"should be emptied on a grating, or into a slop sink, com-
"municating by a trap with the drain."
SCAVENGING OF VILLAGES.- The state of many villages
shows that in the past scavenging has practically been un-
attended to; scavengers, when employed, merely swept the
streets, and paid no attention to accumulations of refuse about
houses and in back yards. On the Local Government Act
coming into operation the District Committees found that
they were unable to confine the assessment for scavenging
to the places benefited, and there was naturally an objection
to assess the whole district for the benefit of a part only.
Where the village is the property of one owner, it is always
possible to arrange for the payment of a scavenger; but
where there are many owners, and it is left to them to arrange
with farmers for the removal of refuse, the intervals that
elapse between successive removals are too long to prevent
nuisance, and if not removed by the owners the poorer
tenants cannot, or will not, take the trouble to find suitable
places on which to deposit their refuse. The best solution
of the difficulty at present is to issue notices under section
51, Public Health Act, "for the periodical removal of manure
"or other refuse matter." Failure to comply with such
notices involves liability to a penalty of 20s. per day. The
objection to this course is that a large sanitary staff is neces-
sary to enforce the order, and the continual suing of the
poorer classes for penalties is most objectionable and un-
popular. The inhabitants of villages long accustomed to
dirty back yards are apt to forget that "cleanliness is next
"to godliness," and is of far more use in preventing the spread
of typhoid fever.
An amendment of the Local Government Act is urgently
required to empower County Councils, (1) to define areas for
lighting, cleaning, and paving roads or streets (in populous
places), and to asses therefor; and (2) to exercise the func-
tions of a Dean of Guild Court in controlling the erection of

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new buildings as far as site and sanitary arrangements are
concerned.
RIVERS POLLUTION. - No action taken.
FOOD AND DRUGS ACT. - The administration of this Act is
at present under consideration.

JEDBURGH DISTRICT.

POPULATION. - The population of the District, as ascertained
by the census of 1891, is 5923, and the density of the popu-
lation is 33 persons to a square mile.
BIRTHS. - I have not been furnished with information of the
number of births in the District.
DEATHS. - There were 39 deaths in the last five months of
the year, and of these 23 were of persons over 60 years of
age, 58·97 per cent. The death-rate was 17·522, being ·243
higher than the rate in the Melrose District, and 3·384 higher
than the rate in the Liddesdale District. In 1891 the death-
rate in the principal town districts of Scotland, as given in
the Registrar-General's Annual Report was 22·9, in the large
towns 21·8, and in the small town districts 20·3, in the insular
rural 17·8, and in the mainland rural districts 17·3. The rate
is therefore higher than it ought to be, and it is at first sight
not easy to account for this. Influenza caused four deaths,
giving a rate of 1·797; zymotic diseases caused three deaths,
or a rate of 1·347. I do not, however, put great trust in
rates taken for a short period in such a small population as
that of the Jedburgh District. This is well shown in the
per centage of deaths in children under five years of age,
in the different districts, usually considered the best index of
the state of a sanitary area. These per centages are -
Jedburgh District, 2·4; Kelso District, 2·6; Melrose District,
1·3; Hawick District, 0·0; Liddesdale District 3·5.
BAKEHOUSES. - There is one bakehouse in the District, in
Ancrum; it has not yet been inspected.
SLAUGHTER-HOUSES.- There are two slaughter-houses, one
in Ancrum, and the other the large slaughter-house belonging

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