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Voluntary notification of the occurrence of
infectious disease in a house is incomplete, and
fails to secure those public benefits which a well
organised system of compulsory notification is
calculated to effect.
Thirty-eight towns in Great Britain have
adopted, under their Local Acts, some plan of
compulsory notification. In practice the system
has been found to work satisfactorily and to be free
from many of the objections which were formerly
urged against it.
The Society of Medical Officers of Health, the
Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, and the
Metropolitan Asylums Board are in favour of the
principle of this measure, and concur in the
opinion that its adoption throughout the Metropolitan
area would be an additional security to the
public against the spread of a fatal class of diseases.
NUISANCES.
The most important trade nuisance which has
been abated during the year, and, I hope entirely
abolished, is the Fish Offal Depot in Little Abbey
Street, which from time to time, was peculiarly
offensive to the residents in that locality. Complaints
have been made of nuisances arising from
the careless conduct of the business in certain trades
peculiar to the parish, but only in one instance
was it necessary to institute any legal proceedings.
Several houses in a dilapidated and insanitary condition,
and in some instances unfit for human
habitation, have received the attention of your
officers.