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97
The scheme of fourteen Inspectors will provide—
one Inspector to every 2,732 houses,
or „ „ „ „ 22,999 persons.
In considering my proposals I will ask you to remember at the same time that
the public, who are now more deeply and anxiously solicitous about their surroundings
and their health than they were even ten years ago (for enlightenment on health
matters is spreading apace, partly owing to a higher education, and partly to the
influence of the public press) will not be content unless sanitary work is more
energetically carried out and more efficiently administered than it has been in the
past. It will not be sufficient in the future to inspect premises hastily, by merely, as
it were, looking at them. If they are to be inspected at all they must be inspected
more thoroughly than they have been hitherto. For instance, the chief test relied on
to detect leakage in drains was the peppermint and similar tests giving off strong
odours; but these, when applied to deep drains, are not efficient. The "smoke" test
was rarely applied, aud the "water" test never. Indeed, these could not be used
because the Inspectors had not the necessary means wherewith to apply them. Such
a state of affairs must cease, and it is to be hoped that in the future, when an
Inspector has examined a house, he shall have discovered all its sanitary faults, and
that there will be no occasion for him to visit the house again, except to see that its
sanitary fittings are kept in good repair, or when owing to damage to them, whether
by accident or design, or by fair wear and tear, he is called in. As for underground
drains, once they are efficiently laid they should not require his attention for years.
Thug it will be seen that in the future the Inspector will not be able to rush
through so many houses, and say, " I have inspected them." He must spend time
over his inspections, and go back more frequently to examine the work he has ordered
to be carried out, to see that it is not soamped, but that every joint and every part
is carefully made, that the materials are good and sound, and that the work and the
workmanship are thorough.
To do this will require more Inspectors, and the number I have come to the
conclusion that you require in this large town, of which I have the honour to be
Medical Officer, is fourteen at thE, vEry least.
With the figures of the great towns before me I cannot ask for fewer, and with
the knowledge that in some of these towns even now the number of the staff is not
deemed sufficient, I would only be betraying the important trust committed to me
by doing so. I have asked for the least number possible if the work is to be carried
out with anything like efficiency.
The increase of the staff of Inspectors in Islington has been of slow growth;
for in 1856 there were two Inspectors, in 1866 four, and in 1886 eight. When in the
latter year additional Inspectors were appointed, the Committee in their report,
described their demand as "moderate," and claimed credit for their moderation.
This was tantamount to saying " we require more Inspectors, but we are afraid to
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