The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-12-07

Inc water supply OF lne PROVIDENCE
Gas and Water company, which is now
agitating the citizens of Green Ridge,
was the main topic up for considera-
ton at last evenings meeting Of the
board of health.
A letter from President E. T.. Loomis,
of the company, which that gentleman
wrote to Health officer Allen after the
latter had conversed with him on the
subject, was read and much satisfaC-
tion was evidenced at the statement
contained in 1t that Summit lake, which
is the principal cause of trouble, would
soon be abandoned by the company.
Mr.. Loomis' letter Is given below:
w. l.. Allen, NJ. D.
Dear Sir: Referring to our conversa-
ton of last evening in reference to the
Providence Gas and Water company's
water supply
As l advised you personally, l do not
propose to leave stone unturned toward
improving the quality of that water. We
are now working night and day, driving
wells below Griffin farm, and when these
are completed we hope and expect to be
able to have no further use for the wa
ter from Summit lake.
The only Objectionable feature l know
of, there, is the barn. ETC., adjacent to
the Griffin dam. We have had survey
made, with view to doing away with
this nuisance, and have authorized money
to make the purchase, but the party own
Ing the property appears to be most un-
reasonable in his price, insisting upon
our purchasing the entire farm, etc. The
result of this is going TO force us to Sc.
cure the additional property required by
condemnation proceedings l have ar
ranged to turn the matter over to our at
torney to do this If all other efforts fail.
In the meantime If your honorable body
can do anything In tho way OF assisting
us to rid ourselves of the much-talked Of
pig pen nuisance recently erected on the
stream leading from Summit lake, / can
assure you it will be most thoroughly
appreciated by Yours very truly,
E. Z. Loomis.
STATE BOARD WILL ACT.
DR.. Allen stated that the pig pen
nuisance so much talked about was
entirely out of the jurisdiction of the
Scranton board of health He stated
that he had just returned from Phila-
delphia, where he had talked the mat
ter over with DR.. Reeves of the stnte
board of health. He was told by him
to go to the owner of the place and
request him to remove ii in the name
of the state board of health. If he
| refused then DR.. Allen was told the
| state board would take the matter in
| hand.
DR.. Allen further reported that 22j
houses had been placarded by T. V.
Lewis, the new assistant sanitary Of
| ficer and that he had also fumigated
| thoroughly all the houses in which
! contagious disease had existed in ad-
dition to attending all funerals where
death resulted and preventing them
| from being public.
1t was decided by the board that
| poultry dealers throughout the city
might hang out their poultry during
the holiday season.
The employees of the crematory were
all present at the meeting, and "a
! definite understanding was arrived at
between themselves and the board
that they were hired by the month
and were to do all the work to be done
at the crematory, no matter how
many hours a day they had to work
to do it. This was done for the pur-
pose of avoiding any future claims for
overtime, such as has been put in by
Former Superintendent Thomas.
SECRETARY'S REPORT.
The report of the secretary of the
board for November was. as follows:
Total number of deaths from all
causes, 107; number of cases of con-
tagious disease reported, 225, divided
as follows Diphtheria, 1862; typhoid
fever, 3: measles, 2, scarlet fever, 3d.
whooping cou n, 8; membraneous
Group, 2. The Ceaths from contagious
disease were as follows: Diphtheria,
10; membraneous Group, /; scarlet
fever, 3; typhoid fever, 2; measles. ..
| There were 101 births, of which fifty
three were males and forty-eight fe-
males.
The report of Food Inspector Wild
mayer was as follows: Store and
market inspections, 5O7: milk tests,
lactometer, 165; milk tests, Babcock,
"a; average per cent butter fat, 440;
average per cent total solids, 13.47.
The following We're destroyed Fish,
1880 pounds; tub oysters, 100 quarts;
milk, 90 quarts.
The plumbing inspectors report
showed 15 water and II smoke tests
made; 6 old buildings inspected; re-
inspections; sets of plans approved
and visits made to new buildings.
The report of the superintendent Of
the crematory was as follows: Gar
bage consumed, 5.O9l barrels; animals,
o..