London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Kensington 1893

The annual report on the health, sanitary condition, &c., &c., of the Parish of St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington for the year 1893

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161
ing that it be referred to them ' to take the necessary steps
for the appointment of a successor to Miss Deane, with
authority to make such appointment subject to confirmation
by the Vestry.'
" I trust that it will not be thought out of place on my
part—as the officer responsible, primarily, for these appointments
having been made, and, subsequently, for the control of
an entirely new department of your Vestry's sanitary work—
to say how cordially 1 concur with the Committee in their
favourable appreciation of the manner in which the Inspectors
have carried out their duties. I venture to add that it
speedily became apparent to me that the position these ladies
occupied was a somewhat anomalous one, and that their usefulness
would be much enhanced did they possess the status of
a Sanitary Inspector. Accordingly—and it being the rule of
your Vestry to require of candidates for the office of Sanitary
Inspector the possession of the Certificate of the Sanitary
Institute—I advised both ladies to take steps to obtain the
said certificate, which, after a period of study, followed by
examination, they succeeded in doing. The reason for this
advice, which was endorsed by the Sub-Committee, was that,
before the ' Sanitary Authority ' can lawfully serve notice on
the owner or occupier of a workshop to cleanse or purify the
same, they must have 'the certificate of a Medical Officer of
Health or Sanitary Inspector,' that such cleansing, &c., of
the workshop, is ' necessary for the health of the persons employed
therein ' (Public Health {London) Act, 1891, Section 25).
The Women Inspectors cannot give this certificate, although
they are qualified to act as Sanitary Inspectors ; but it must
be obvious, I venture to think, that they should be in a
position so to do. Notices have been served, by the order of
the Sub-Committee, upon the recommendation of the Inspectors,
for works of cleansing, etc.; but if it became
necessary, in case of objection to the notice on the part of
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