occupied, as usual, an inordinate amount of time in the way of
inspection, correspondence and clerical work, the letters, and other
communications received during the year being 5,891, viz., 2,560 in the
North, and 3,331 in the South district. The actual number of complaints
was 1,010, viz., 357 in the North, and 653 in the South contract
district; while the orders issued for the removal of dust were 10,177,
viz., 3,868 in the North District, and 6,309 in the South. The vexatious
difficulties attending this important question led your Vestry to
consider again the possibility of dispensing with the assistance of
contractors; but no result has hitherto come out of the trouble that was
taken by a Committee and by the Clerk of the Vestry to solve the
difficulty. The same as with respect to the mortuary and the
disinfecting chamber, the lack of a suitable site for the storing of the
dust in the intermediate stage between the dust-bins and the final
disposition of their contents, has practically rendered nugatory all the
labour bestowed on the question. Towards the close of the contract year
the complaints became so numerous that your Vestry not only employed a
staff of horses, carts, and men to make up for the deficiencies of the
contractor (and at his expense) but, also, imposed heavy pecuniary
penalties. A somewhat curious result of this strictly equitable and, in
fact, unavoidable severity was, that the new contractors for the North
district expressed unwillingness to sign the contract, and did not sign
it for a period of three months, during which time, as they preferred to
set about their work in their own way, which only brought matters right
after a considerable interval, the complaints in this district became
very numerous, and the difficulty experienced in the first quarter of
1875 in the South district, was, in the second quarter, transferred to
the North. But as not seldom happens, so in this case—out of evil came
good, for your Vestry temporarily appointed, at my request, a Dust
Inspector, whose services having given satisfaction, and proved very
useful, have been permanently retained, thus affording a very much needed
accession to the strength of the sanitary staff at my disposal.