Annual report of the Director, Medical & Health Department / Colony of Mauritius.

  • Mauritius. Medical and Health Department
Date:
[1904]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Director, Medical & Health Department / Colony of Mauritius. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/96 (page 15)
    ] 5 dual re tarn to the former mode of conveyance by cart, the last1 railway siding for the night soil traffic being closed in the latter part of the year. The duty of providing for the public and pri¬ vate latrine service in the true urban area was transferred t©»the- town Council by the Municipal Ordinance of 1903, but, by agree¬ ment, the service of the public latrines was continued to be per¬ formed by the Government Contractor, the Municipality paying; its own share. In the exercise of its new powers, however, the- Town Council decided towards the close of the year that four¬ teen of the existing public latrines should be suppressed, a de¬ cision against which this Department has since protested. 9. The number of public nuisances referred to the Public- Works Department or to the Municipality for abatement amount¬ ed to 807 of which 147 were still in existence at the end of the- year. The number of notices served for removal of private nuis¬ ances amounted in the same period to 2,871. 10. The conditions under which water is supplied 16 the- inhabitants of Port Louis have remained unaltered. In connect¬ ion with this it seems a significant fact that 9 cases of typhoid fever have been notified to the local Sanitary Authority at Port Louis during- the year under review. 11. - Progress was made during the year with the scheme for the extension of the water carriage system to district No. 4 in the neighbourhood of the Line Barracks, 8,000feet of under¬ ground sewers being constructed in that area while connections were established with a number of premises until then unprovid¬ ed with water closets in the district already drained. The hope may be expressed that the works for draining the central area of town will not be much further delayed. 12. As already pointed out, certain changes wrere brought about in the sanitary management of Port Louis by the Munici¬ pal Ordinance No. 23 of 1903, which took effect on the 1st. of March 1904 whereby the respective responsibilities of the Health Department and the Municipality were considerably altered. Besides the care of the night soil and scavengering; services, the Town Council has been entrusted with the charge of the gutters, streams and drains ( except those under the ma¬ nagement of the Drainage Authority) in the urban area. No> material improvement in the condition of these channels can at present be reported. 13. The inspection of Common Lodging Houses and insani¬ tary premises at Port Louis was continued by Dr. Keisler during the first half of the year. That Medical Officer having reverted to his titular appointment in the Immigration Department in June 1 904, he was replaced by Dr. Seneqne who officiated as Assistant Sanitary Warden pending the appointment of a per¬ manent titular to the post. The difficulties met with in endea¬ vouring to bring about a much needed improvement in the housing- of the poorer classes to which reference has been made in previous reports were not only still in existence in 1904 but were, if anything, intensified by the financial depression from which the Colony has suffered. Again, however common¬ place the statement may appear, it cannot too often be repeated that a first step to secure the desired improvement should consist in the careful and stringent application of the-provisions of the Building Ordinance in regard to the new buildings. . 14. The milk trade received special attention, 1,353 samnles being taken^ and tested by the Sanitary Officers. In cases where a doubt was felt as to the correctness of the view adopted by the examining Officer or when his opinion was contested by the seller, samples were submitted for chemical examination by the Government Analyst..