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188
1904]
by post. There were also 253 statutory notices served by order of the
Public Health Committee, of which 72 were served personally and 181 by
registered post.
Anonymous Complaints.— It is matter for regret that as many as 416
anonymous complaints respecting nuisances have been received, many being
without doubt prompted by malevolence to the owners or agents of properties,
and some of them being altogether unjustified. For a considerable period it was
the habit of the Public Health Department to examine carefully every communication
of this character, and if on the face of it there appeared to be good
ground for making an inspection, it was made. For instance, where the
complaint stated that there was no water supply, that a drain was choked,
that a w.c. was stopped or overflowing, or that there was water in the
basement, immediate attention was given to the letter, but where it was
merely stated that a drain was defective, which in nine cases out of ten could
only be proved by testing, and in a similar class of complaints, the communication
was placed on the file. Some very great hardships have had to be
endured by some property owners, owing to these vindictive complaints, or
complaints made with an object—as for the purpose of depreciating a property
before its sale. The practice of ignoring these communications has had to be
altered, because it has been found that sometimes when the local authority failed
to attend to them similar anonymous complaints were made to the London
County Council, who, finding the Borough Council had taken no notice of them
themselves, instructed their inspectors to call at the premises, and then
wrote to the Council or its Medical Officer, making complaint, when, of
course, the matter was attended to, for it no longer came in an anonymous
garb.
So far as Islington is concerned there ought to be no hesitation on the part
of its people to make their complaints openly, because every possible care is
taken by the Public Health Department to prevent the names of the
complainants becoming known.
Frequently complaints are addressed, for the greater part in error, to the
London County Council, and it is a matter of regret that they do not forward
them, or copies of them, to the Council. For some reason they decline to do
this, or even to divulge the name of the person who made the complaint
Consequently such complaints are, so far as the Council of this borough