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Under this heading may be mentioned the establishment by the
Social Workers' Association of an Infant Miik Depot (pp.
107-116), which proved a most successful experiment in the
reduction of infant mortality among children using the milk.
(c) Housing Accommodation, and particularly the maintenance of
sanitation in the dwelling-houses now existing (pp. 119-149); 33
insanitary houses have been closed by the Borough Council,
and 35 more by the County Council, nearly 1,000 tenement
houses have been cleansed, and 2,250 dwelling-houses have been
systematically inspected.
(d) The Sanitation of Factories, Workshops and Workplaces in
which an industrial population spends such a large part of its
life (pp. 153-171); 3,670 visits of inspection have been paid to
factories and workshops, and in 1,008 of them insanitary defects
have been remedied; more than 700 visits have been paid to
359 home-workers.
(e) The Protection of Child-life from injurious conditions in the
school and in the home (pp. 14-17, 23-28 and 181-191); upwards
of 4,000 visits have been made to homes in the investigation of
disease and death of children.
(f) General Sanitation, including the reduction of smoke nuisances,
improvement of drainage and paving of yards, street cleansing
and removal of dust (under the Cleansing Department). Much
of the work involved under this heading is tabulated on pp.
200 and 203, from which it will be seem that upwards of 35,000
sanitary visits have been paid during the year, in addition to
those to which reference has been made.
The figures in this summary represent a large amount of work,
and as that work has been carried out by trained workers it ought
to result, in time, in an improvement in the public health. No
doubt progress is taking place, and it is certain that much disease
and death is now prevented. And yet—hundreds of persons die
every year in Finsbury from preventable disease, thousands more
suffer, and life is more limited than it need be. The fact is that
although the State, acting through the Local Authority, may do very
much and every year is doing more, it cannot do everything.
Personal hygiene, eating and drinking, moderation, cleanliness,