§ MR. WEIR (ROSS and Cromarty)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that in the report of the medical officer of health for Inverness-shire for 1897 the medical officer states 324 that the sanitary condition of the village of Kirkton is so defective that, unless active measures are at once taken, he is strongly of opinion that a destructive outbreak of typhus fever or diphtheria, such as has already occurred in Skye and the Outer Islands, is to be apprehended; and will he say what steps the local authorities propose to take in order to avert this danger?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. GRAHAM MURRAY,) ButeshireThe local medical officer reported as stated in 1897. I am informed that the chief source of danger to the public health has already been removed, and that arrangements have been made on an extensive scale for improving the sanitary conditions of Kirkton. The sanitary inspector hopes to find the works completed at the time of his next inspection. I may add that the total number of deaths in the district in 1897 was 13, and the average age at death was 83; there was no infant mortality, and one individual, a pauper, reached the age of 105.