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72
Sanitary Officers (London) Order, 1891.
In July the Council received a letter from the vestry of St. George, Southwark, stating
that the vestry had recently considered a proposal for the appointment of a female sanitary
inspector, part of whose duty should be to teach mothers and other inmates of houses habits of
cleanliness and the best methods of utilising food, and also to give them instruction in the feeding
and bringing up of children. The Local Government Board had been unable to approve the
appointment, inasmuch as these duties were not among those assigned to sanitary inspectors by the
Sanitary Officers (London) Order, 1891, and pointed out that the work of instructing mothers in
the feeding, care and nurture of infants is one which requires training of a high order to be
carried out with advantage, and that the possession of the certificate of the Sanitary Institute
or Sanitary Inspectors' Examination Board is no evidence that its possessor has had any such
training. The Board was, however, prepared to sanction the appointment for the purposes of the
repayment of a moiety of the salary of such office, so far as related to that portion of her time
which would be employed upon the duties specified in the Order. The vestry were of opinion
that the Order should be altered so as to include the duties to be assigned to such an office as the
one contemplated. The Council, on the recommendation of the Public Health Committee,
resolved to inform the Local Government Board of its willingness to pay half the salaries of
female sanitary inspectors who, in addition to their other duties, would take opportunities of
inculcating cleanliness and the best methods of utilising food.

In the case of three districts no reports have yet been received.
Shirley F. Murphy,
To the London County Council. Medical Officer of Health.
December, 1901.