HH62/2/SUTHER/29

Transcription

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they are supposed to encourage, will do more to bring about the
realisation of attainable sanitary ideals than the dragooning of an
unwilling people into the ways of sanitation by a vigorous employ-
ment of compulsive force.
The process must be a slow one, and much tact and patience will
be required, on the part of enlightened administrators, to permit of their
less privileged constituents absorbing into their minds the knowledge
of the laws of health and their subsequent translation into practical
realities. All that is demanded of those in authority is that they
shall allow themselves to be convinced of the truth of the case in
this county as drawn up in this Report, and that they shall aim at
carrying into effect the proposals (or similar ones) hereinafter to be
made as those calculated to produce the greatest good to the greatest
number of the people, for whose sanitary welfare they stand in loco
parentis.
The benefits of unity and combined action in the attempt to
obtain a general good must be apparent to all, and while it would
be possible to keep down a growth of noxious weeds by cutting off
their individual heads, it would be more scientific and successful to
eradicate them by the root simultaneously, and prevent the redeposit
of their seeds; and so with diseases or the causes thereof whose
conditions of growth we can limit or eradicate.
A combined effort to cure insanitary conditions, while it costs onlv
about one-third of the money and labour that would be entailed by
causing individuals to work out simply their own sanitary require-
ments, such as drainage or water introduction, is of more than three
times the value to a community congregated in villages in which
the conveniences are required and must be obtained. Thus the
enforcement of such a necessity as water of proper quality and
amount where it is lacking in quantity or non-existent can best be
obtained by the people being supplied unitedly from a sufficient and
common source; and, in the case of removal of waste materials, a
combined sewage or scavenging system is ultimately cheaper and
more effective than the forced compliance of individuals by making
them carry out singly their own requirements at their own immediate
expense.
It will consequently be our endeavour when practicable, and the
circumstances of the case demand, to persuade people to have schemes
for improvement carried out in combination. Not till these fail will
it be incumbent on a Sanitary Authority to proceed to the actual
compulsion of law in order to obtain compliance with sanitary
standards.
When the Public Health Act and Amending Acts shall have been
found lacking in powers to remedy any particularly diffcult state of
insanitation, then it will be possible to make bye-laws or ask for new
powers to cope with the necessities of the case. A request was made
sometime ago by me to the Council, asking to get definite instructions

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to prepare bye-laws and regulations for present purposes, but no con-
sideration was given to the proposal.
At present there is a need for clearer light on the duties of Local
Authorities in the matter of cleansing Villages periodically by
scavengers, and it ought to be possible to proceed to have certain
villages at present not Drainage Districts formed either into such or
Scavenging Districts. People would, I believe, not object to be
taxed for the sake of a great and necessary benefit which would be
more than equivalent to the money expended.
Meantime, in order to cure nuisances which have been handed
down as a legacy from previous generations to certain districts, such
as fishing villages, the Local Authority, letting byegones be byegones,
should as soon as possible itself remove them, as no "author" can be
found; and once a clean basis of action is thus made, make regulations
preventing a re-accumulation, either by arrangements for public
scavenging of all waste matter, or the enforcing of removal on the
individual authors - which latter, however, is always a troublesome
and ineffective plan.
What to do with our Houses which are not proper and healthy
habitations is a most important question, easier to propound than to
solve. Such a large proportion of the people are crofters, and hold
their houses with a greater security since the passing of the Crofters'
Act. They are supposed to be virtually owners of their own houses,
and as such are held responsible for their sanitary condition. But to
compel those who have not the means or necessaries for making
improvements on their houses will be a fruitless effort. Time and
example alone will work much; and encouragement of a practical
kind, either by the proprietors of the land, who receive rent for the
crofts, or by the County Council, which has extensive powers under
the Housing of the Working Classes Act, will do much more.
It cannot but be noticed how great has been the improvement in
the houses in the East Coast parishes opened up by the Highland
Railway and near the chief public roads. Wood, lime, &c., I believe,
have been granted by the proprietors in these parishes to a greater
extent than in the West and North, and the result has been
undoubtedly greater prosperity and comfort, comparatively speaking,
by all these combined means than in the other parts.
A Rent is often paid of such an amount for house and land that
is quite out of proportion to the conveniences offered; and I think
rent should be split up into two parts, one part for the land, and the
other representing house accommodation and all necessary con-
veniences, such as water supply and good drainage. At present the
rent is practically paid for the land which the tenant has the liberty
of using; but the buildings used for the housing of cattle and horses
are often of greater comfort than those used for human beings; and
the proprietor who receives rent for the land, if he exactly knew the
state of affairs, would, I think, be ashamed in many cases to receive
money for the wretched accommodation which is allowed to satisfy