130 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



Mr. Thomas Richards, M.P., general secretary of the South Wales 



Miners' Federation, referring to this aspect of the question, says: 



"In South Wales and Monmouthshire socialism and syndicalism 

 and other advanced schools of thought have made progress because 

 the workers deeply resent the degrading system under which they 

 work, and the sordidness and monotony of their housing conditions 

 and home surroundings. There can be no doubt that the unwhole- 

 some environment of mining towns and villages has much to do with 

 the creation of industrial unrest." 



Water Supplies and Sewerage in Small Towns 



Polluted water supplies and lack of sanitary and efficient sewer- 

 age systems are only too common in the small towns and rural dis- 

 tricts of Canada. The comparatively small resources of such towns 

 and districts make the problem one of peculiar difficulty from an 

 economic point of view. In one small town in Ontario bad sani- 

 tary conditions, resulting in diarrhoea and enteritis (under 2 years), 

 have been the chief cause of an average death rate of 11 per cent of 

 the reported births, with the death rate in exceptional years running 

 as high as 22.9 per cent of reported births. The Report of the Provincial 

 Board of Health states that — "Conditions such as these are intoler- 

 able, and some method of financing the needed improvements must 

 be arranged for." 



Many municipalities in Canada, having water and sewerage 

 systems, have imperfect means of distributing water and large parts 

 of their areas are unsewered. Others, which are dependent on pri- 

 vate wells for their supplies of water, show great carelessness in the 

 construction of cesspools and closets, with resultant contamination 

 and outbreaks of typhoid. Statements are frequently made that 

 sanitary inspectors are prevented from doing their duty because of 

 unjustifiable pressure exerted upon them by members of councils. 

 Surely this should be prevented by law, in view of the essential im- 

 portance of conserving life and health. 



But, in spite of the backwardness of councils in appreciating 

 the advantages of better conditions, considerable improvement has 

 been made in recent years, and a more enlightened public opinion 

 is being formed. Conditions are so widely different that no general 

 rule can be applied, and, as with all other matters of land develop- 

 ment, questions relating to sanitation must be considered on their 

 merits in each district, with due regard to the ability of the district 

 to bear the cost of any particular scheme or mode of treatment. 

 In many towns which can afford to have engineering advice, the ad- 

 vantage of employing an engineer is not appreciated, but the saving 



