HH62/1/FIFE/63

Transcription

[page] 62

the back walls or ends of the houses. There is much need for proper
systems of water supply and drainage for Leuchars.
Guardbridge. - The state of Guardbridge was recently reported on
by me, and in this report I stated that at present the inhabitants of the
village were using water which had been condemned by analysis in the
year 1887, and ordered not to be used by the Board of Supervision in
the same year.
The drainage of Guardbridge is a matter which, sooner or later,
must come up also, as at present it is in a very unsatisfactory condition.
There is little or no attention paid to removal of house refuse matters
at Guardbridge, and the general state of the village is most unsatis-
factory.
ST MONANS PARISH. -
This parish contains 1203 acres, and, at last census, had 1998
inhabitants. The village of St Monans is one of the villages in Fife
where the maximum assessment for Public Health purposes has been
reached, and this is almost entirely for providing water. The water
supply is by gravitation, and the quality is excellent, and the only
matter for regret is that the cost should have been so great.
It is self-evident that when water is introduced by pipes into a
place, provision must be made for taking it out again after it has served
its purposes, or serious nuisances will be caused; but, doubtless owing
to the already heavy assessment, no drainage system has been provided
for St Monans. Surface waters are carried away by side gutters and
channels, very badly made generally; but some, of more recent construc-
tion, are well laid and of good material, but have not sufficient fall to
render them self-cleansing. One underground drain discharges into
the harbour, and this is most objectionable, seeing houses are so close
to it.
An efficient system of sewers is most urgently needed for St
Monans, but how this is to be managed, under the present assessment,
is a question of considerable difficulty. The Public Health Act pro-
vides for Local Authorities constructing sewers and charging the cost to
the General Public Health Assessment (Section 73), and this method
might, with reason, be applied in this case, as the inhabitants of St
Monans have incurred the full assessment and cannot do more, and
grave nuisances being caused by want of sewers, it becomes the duty of
the Local Authority to remove them by provision of the appropriate
remedies. This appears to me to be the spirit of the Act, although
action is rarely taken under Section 73. the same difficulty as at St
Monans is experienced at Crossgates; and to meet it the Public Health
Amendment Act of 1891 has been adopted, and if the same action
were taken by St Andrews District Committee, this would be another
way out of the difficulty. The general state of the village is most
unsatisfactory, from defective scavenging and from the indifference on
the part of the villagers to insanitary surroundings. Many of the houses
are structurally defective, although several have been improved after the
attention of the owners was directed to them.
I think it most desirable to put on record that St Monan's insani-
tary condition is a source of concern to me, in case of the outbreak of
an epidemic, and the results which would follow any such occurrence.

[page] 63

St Andrews Parish contains 12,490 acres, and has a population
of 8755. The greater part of this population, however, is in the Burgh
of St Andrews.
The only populous places, to which reference may be made, are
Ballone, Boarhills, and Strathkinness. Ballone is well supplied with
gravitation water, and otherwise does not call for further remark.
Strathkinness is supplied by the usual type of shallow wells, and has no
system of drainage; but, as there is a very good slope on the ground
where the village is built, no great inconvenience is caused by this.
Boarhills has no drainage, and its water supply is by wells. For con-
venience of reference, appended is a tabular statement of the water
supply and drainage of the chief villages referred to.
These short statements of the main features of the sanitary con-
dition of the various villages and hamlets do not indicate that there
has been in the past any attempt to administer the Public Health Act,
and the actual condition of some of the villages approaches the primi-
tive condition of countries which have no Public Health Act at all.
The decaying state of many of the villages from fading industries
renders it almost a hopeless task to put them in a thoroughly sanitary
condition as regards the elementary provisions of sufficient water supply
and efficient drainage; and in many instances where the want of these
does not produce any acute danger to the public health, their condition
might be tolerated, taking into due consideration the financial difficulties,
but there can be no excuse for the gross pollutions which meet one at
every step. These are offences which can be dealt with under the
Public Health Act, and must be, in many instances, before the inhabi-
tants of these villages realise that they will be compelled to have their
houses and environments in a sanitary condition. Such reformations
as are needed can only be carried out by vigilant and unremitting
sanitary inspection; and, as far as one man can do it, this has been
done by your Sanitary Inspector; and I take this opportunity of stating
that a more painstaking Inspector could not be got; but he cannot
perform impossibilites, and I am distinctly of opinion that to inspect a
District with over 90,000 acres, with about 30 hamlets or villages and
73 dairies, Mr McLetchie should be provided with two Assistant
Inspectors, or with one, and the Chief Inspector either to have an
allowance for hires or for a horse and trap for himself. The railway
service only touches the fringe of the District, and to visit many of the
inland villages on foot is not only a great waste of energy but of time.
This section of the Report only touches the main features of water
supply and drainage of the populous places in the District, and it will
be seen that very few possess these two requisites - of what is called a
sanitary state - in combination; very few even possess a water supply
free from the risks of organic pollution.
The condition of the houses in the District will have to be left over
until another year, as this subject will require more attention than it
has been possible to devote to it meantime.