187 (6)
interests of the public, that the power to depute should be exercised by the highest authority in the Colony.
Section 230 deals with the general administration of the "nuisance" clauses which can obviously only be enforced through a considerable staff of the Inspector or Overscer class. The power of deputing in such matters is rightly placed in the hands of the Building Authority and I do not see that any material advantage would be gained by altering this arrangement.
Paragraph 80.-If the present system of inspection has been found unsatisfactory, the remedy is to alter it by introducing men of a different class for such work. The power of delegation has nothing to do with it. The signing of notices by the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Sanitary Board was obviously irregular, but irregularities of this kind are liable to occur under any system.
Concreting of Floors.
7.—Paragraph 99.-Sections 111 and 112 of the Public Health and Buildings Ordin- ance deal with ground surfaces. Section 140 was intended to deal with the floors of kitchens in upper storeys, the ground surfaces of kitchens or cookhouses on the ground level being dealt with by the previous sections above mentioned.
Paragraphs 118 and 119-The statements made herein would appear to be based on good evidence. The system of dealing with limewashing and concreting requires overhauling.
Limewashing.
8. It is not admitted that the limewashing of tenement houses has proved a failure from a sanitary point of view, though no doubt it might be more efficiently carried out than at present. The evidence of CHUNG SHAN Koo does not justify the inferences drawn from it in the report but there is little doubt that much corruption existed in connection with limewashing, and I advocate a re-casting of the limewashing bye-laws.
Paragraph 115.—Mr. OSBORNE's evidence went a good deal further than the mere advocacy of house to house cleansing. He stated that in 1901 certain premises in which the coolies of the Company he represents are housed, were overhauled, and rat-runs were filled up and that since then the premises have been flooded daily with light and air and cleansed once a month. Speaking from experience I opine that the light and air has had more to do with the absence of plague in these houses (in which by the way there are no cubicles) than anything else.
Disinfecting and General Cleansing.
9.-Fumigation with chlorine gas was first instituted in 1894 on the advice of the Government Analyst, and as late as July, 1901, he personally supervisid the disinfection and cleansing of No. 5 Health District of the City of Victoria, when fumigation with chlorine was used. The Board's confidential minutes for June 13th, 1901, shew that Dr. CLARK then expressed the opinion which was evidently so strongly expressed as to need special record in the minutes and was repeated in the Secretary's letter to the Government contained in 1894/01 C.S.O. dated 14th June, 1901, that "fumigation alone would not adequately disinfect the premises." Dr. PEARSE did not arrive in the Colony until August of the same year. Chinese tenement houses were rendered sufficiently airtight to cause the suffocation by the gas of vermin, and in some cases of domestic animals such as cats and dogs which had inadvertently been shut into houses under process of disinfection.
The use of chlorine was continued up to the time of Professor SIMPSON's arrival in the- Colony who advised the more drastic method of spraying ceilings and walls with a solution of perchloride of mercury and washing floors with some carbolic acid disinfectant.
Paragroph 148.-The Medical Officer of Health states that he was guided (as all. Medical Officers of Health must be guided in such matters) in his selection of Carbolacene by the published reports of Analysts which accompany all disinfectants that are put on the market. An analysis made by the Government Analyst in 1902 showed that Carbolacene. contained 21.2 per cent. of carbolic acid, rendered stable by caustic soda. This caustic soda is of considerable value in the removal of grease and dirt. Jeyes' fluid contains 17.47 per cent. of carbolic acid, but the great advantage of this preparation is that it mixes readily with water. The new method of guaging the value of a disinfectant by bacteriological processes had not been introduced in 1902.