London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Battersea 1908
Report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea for the year 1908
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General Sanitary Administration.
The following table gives a summary of the work of the sanitary inspectors, as far as the work admits of tabulation:—
| Summary of Sanitary Operations for the Year 1908. | |||
| Total Sanitary Operations | 83,379 | Dust receptacles provided | 582 |
| Number of house inspections | 45,758 | Leaky house-roofs and gutters | |
| Bakehouse inspections | 238 | repaired | 535 |
| Bakehouse nuisances abated | 44 | Houses supplied with water, and | |
| Urinals—inspections | 143 | fittings repaired | 240 |
| Do. altered, repaired or water laid on | 33 | Water closets supplied with water or supply disconnected from drinking water cisterns | 853 |
| Intimations served under Sec. 3 | 4,511 | ||
| Notices served under Sec. 4, &c. | 1,489 | Cisterns covered, cleansed and repaired | 617 |
| Notices served under Sec. 62 &65 | 2,124 | ||
| Complaints received &attended to | 3,756 | Keeping of animals in unfit state discontinued | 54 |
| Number of houses disinfected | 2,418 | ||
| Houses supplied with disinfectant | 6,053 | Smoke observations | 42 |
| House drains flushed with disinfectants after infectious disease | 2,437 | Certificates of disinfectiongranted | 3,662 |
| Houses inspected and certificates granted (Sec. 48) | 32 | ||
| Overcrowding abated | 88 | Proceedings ordered by Council and Health Committee | 4,576 |
| Premises cleansed and repaired | 3,498 | ||
| Drains tested .. By smoke | 1,019 | Summonses issued. . | 194 |
| „ water | 5,293 | Magisterial Orders obtained and enforced | 105 |
| Drains cleansed and repaired | 153 | ||
| Drains relaid | 788 | Factories, Workshops,&c.,inspections | 3,564 |
| Frontage drains constructed or re-constructed | 85 | ||
| Sanitary conveniences provided or improvements effected in Factories&Workshops (Sec. 38) | 246 | ||
| Soil-pipes and drains ventilated | 165 | ||
| Sink and rain water pipes disconnected or repaired | 676 | ||
| Water Closets cleansed&repaired | 159 | Underground sleeping rooms disused | 6 |
| Cesspools abolished | — | ||
| Mews & Stables drained&paved Yards and forecourts paved | 1,022 | Gipsy van inspections | 121 |
| Drains laid to new houses and tenements | 32 | ||
| Accumulations of manure and other obnoxious matter removed or proper receptacles provided | 132 | ||
| Samples taken under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts | 1,000 | ||
| Miscellaneous | 323 | ||
Sanitation of House Property.
The sanitation of existing houses is one of the most
important duties of Sanitary Authorities, intimately bound up as
it is with the housing question. The difficulties associated with
the housing question in London to-day are largely due to the
imperfect sanitary supervision which in the past appears to have
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