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1900] 164
DISTRICT INSPECTION.
Six thousand three hundred and seventy-two houses were inspected, of which
883 were the result of house to house inspections. These entailed 49,216 sub-.
sequent calls for the purpose of supervising the works that had been undertaken to
abate nuisances.
The stables, yards and mews ways received much more attention than usual,
for no less than 4,015 visits were paid to them, or 1,287 more than in the previous
year.
There has been a feeling in some quarters, that on more than one occasion
has found utterance, that the sanitary staff of Islington is out of proportion to its
size and requirements. This is altogether an erroneous view, for at the present
time the proportion of inspectors to population, is less than the average for the
whole of London.
At one time the Islington staff was slightly above the average, but while
other authorities have increased their inspectors to meet the ever-increasing
sanitary duties devolving on them, the number of your inspectors has remained
stationary. It will perhaps be a surprise to those persons who are of opinion that
there are too many inspectors, to learn that their number does not reach the
requirements of the Local Government Board, or of the County Council. The
deficiency in numbers has, however, to some extent been compensated for by the
judicious appointment of special inspectors for special work, so that those
inspectors who have to deal with insanitary dwelling houses, that is the district
inspectors, should not be taken away from their duties, which are very onerous,
to inspect meat, to take observations of smoke nuisances, to visit houses let in
lodgings, to examine laundries, to inquire into the state of outworkers' rooms, to
watch for the starting of new workshops, and to see that all factories and workshops
are kept in a sanitary state, to examine into the condition of cowsheds and
dairies, to inspect slaughter houses and places where offensive trades are conducted,
and to obtain samples of food under the Sale of Food and Drugs' Acts for analysis.
It is because of the systematic division of labour that the number of the staff
has been kept down, despite the ever-increasing duties devolving on your Medical
Officer of Health and the inspectors under him. Improved sanitation is the great
requirement of the age, and, therefore, it is no surprise to find that in many Acts of
Parliament outside the Public Health Act, duties are cast upon sanitary officials of
which the public have no notion. In one of the very latest Bills introduced into
Parliament by the Government, the new Factory and Workshop Bill, very serious
and weighty responsibilities are thrown upon the Medical Officer of Health and
Sanitary Inspector, but especially upon the former.