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cleansing processes which are now periodically carried on by the inhabitants themselves at a comparatively small cost to the Government, the Sanitary Department supplying the cleansing materials and carrying away the rubbish.
The cleansing operations in 1901-1902 cost $81,352.89 whereas in 1903-1904 they cost the Government less than $7,000.
It is difficult to dogmatise concerning the effects certain measures have produced in dealing with a disease like plague, but I am convinced that the marked diminution which has occurred in the number of plague cases during the years 1904, 1905 and 1906 is a direct result of these cleansing processes carried out voluntarily by the inhabitants themselves, the average annual number of cases during these three years being 542 as compared with an average of 1,212 cases for the years 1901-1903.
The increase in 1906, as compared with 1905, was I think due to the scarcity of water in the Spring of that year interfering with the cleansing operations.
In 1903 it was found that certain Sections of the new Ordinance were unworkable and an amended Ordinance was passed in December of that year appointing the Principal Civil...