Following a particularly warm summer in 1884, the town was traumatised by an  outbreak of typhus. In total some 100 people died and 1100 more were infected.

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A Government inspection found that the cause was the failure of the sewage and water system installed at such great cost a little over a decade previously – it had been badly engineered, poorly installed and inadequately maintained.

 

Further investment was required which included a  new reservoir built at a higher altitude than the first to better deliver water to the town. The original one was (for the being at least) expensively redundant.