Annual report on the Medical Department / Sierra Leone.

  • Sierra Leone. Medical Department.
Date:
[1905]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Medical Department / Sierra Leone. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/38 (page 7)
    Removal of Refuse from Houses and Yards.—This is done by the occupiers and the rubbish deposited in public dust bins, whence it is removed by the sanitary carts, and dumped down at one or other of the shoots on the foreshore. This is unsatisfactory, and destructors should be provided to dispose of the very large amount of vegetable and other refuse which accumulates. Sewage Disposal.—The pernicious system of cesspits still exists unchecked in our midst, and I have no doubt whatever that it accounts for a considerable proportion of the sickness and mortality among the inhabitants of Freetown. On a still night the foetid smell emanating from the cesspits and the sewage- soaked soil is appalling, and as most of the houses are uncemented on the ground floor, the sleeping inhabitants get the full benefit of it. In my last Annual Report I stated that a dumping ground had been selected, and it was proposed to carry out an experiment with reference to the disposal of excreta of a limited area of the town by burial in shallow trenches. Distinct instructions were given with reference to the preparation of the ground, but owing to some misunderstanding, I found on my return from leave that the ground had been improperly prepared. The scheme met with a very great deal of opposition, not only among the inhabitants of the locality but generally in the town, and a petition was addressed to His Excellency the Acting Governor, who saw a deputation on the subject. Eventually, as there was some doubt as to the effect of the rain on this method of disposing of excreta, His Excellency decided to allow the scheme to remain in abeyance while a limited experiment was being carried out at the Lunatic Asylum. I regret to think that the progress of education has been so slow in Freetown, that even among the so-called educated class the dangers of this method of sewage disposal are not appreciated; and I am forced to the conclusion that it is a matter which cannot be left to the City Council, but which will have to be taken up by the Government, and the cesspits closed compulsorily. In 1896, when I made my first Annual Report, I entered very fully into this question, and I have drawn attention to it every year since that time, and now, when I am on the point of severing my connection with this Colony, I can only express the hope that this crying evil will be seriously taken up and dealt with. WATER SUPPLY. This is satisfactory in every way, and the new water supply has been a great boon to the inhabitants. The drains leading from the standpipe must, however, be put in proper order, otherwise collections of water form, which breed mosquitoes. In view of the new water supply, the numerous polluted surface wells of the city should now be closed. SURFACE DRAINAGE. This is gradually undertaken, and a great improvement has been effected in many of the streets of the town. In my last report I alluded to the various streams which run through the city, and which are the principal means by which the supply of mosquitoes is Kemoval of refuse from houses and yards. Sewage disposal. Water supply. Surface drainage.