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99
The Inland Revenue Act most unjustly threw on Local Authorities the burden
of giving certificates of exemption from Imperial Taxes to persons owning certain
houses intended for the most part for the working classes. But as the giving of such
a certificate by the Medical Officer of Health is a guarantee that the house receiving
it is in a sanitary condition, such examination must be minute and thorough; and
consequently it will occupy an unusually long period of time. When application is
made for a certificate a preliminary examination is undertaken by a Sanitary
Inspector, who reports to me on the existing defects. The owner is then informed
of them, and when they have been remedied I visit the house, and, if I find
everything in a sanitary state, I grant the certificate.
Then the Housing of the Working Classes Act, whose fringe only has been
touched as yet, will entail heavy labour and responsibilities on the Inspectors if its
most valuable clauses are to be made use of for the promotion of health.
There are many matters in the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, which to a
large extent now impose additional or increased duties—for instance, smoke abatement,
removal of stable manure, the inspection of vans, tents, and the like; the closing of
underground rooms when not in accordance with the Act (the examination of which
formerly devolved on the District Surveyor), and the duty of examining new houses
to see if they are supplied with a proper and sufficient supply of water.
Attention to the notices of the New River Company, when water is lawfully cut
off from any inhabited dwelling-house, is also obligatory.
But another reason remains why I most strongly urge the permanent increase of
the staff to fourteen Inspectors, and it is to enable the Public Health Department to
commence and adequately carry out a house to house inspection of the district. It has
been attempted more than once, but it has never yet been brought to a complete and
satisfactory finish. This most useful and absolutely necessary work must be undertaken
and completed, and until it has been so completed I will not feel satisfied, and I
believe you will not feel satisfied, that the sanitary work of the department has been
conducted on a sound and proper system. House to house inspection is the only
efficient remedy for extensive sanitary evils. It is the life and soul of sanitary work.
It is not by casual visiting, by the mere attention to complaints made to you as the
sanitary authority, but by the systematic examination of properties, that great and
good work is effected; for the former, although necessary, does not seem to lessen
sickness and mortality to the same extent that the latter does. The Inspectors should
beconstantly engaged in house to house inspection, while not at the same time neglecting
those complaints of sanitary defects, which frequently are of a most urgent and
pressing character
Again, the recent circular from the Local Government Board respecting the
examination of the places wherein men, who carry work home from their employers,
live will entail a very serious addition to the duties of the department, and will alone
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