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107
common lodging-houses because they were drunk, were too dirty,
were disorderly, were too young, had no money, or because the
house was full.
On the same night there were 132 males in the Church Army
Home in Banner Street. In this home they get food and lodging in
return for work done at wood-chopping.
SYSTEMATIC HOUSE TO HOUSE INSPECTIONS—There
is a tendency in many Health Offices to focus acutely the work
upon drains—the location of drain defects and their amendment—
and to overlook the ever quick and pressing condition of the home,
the cleanliness of the rooms, the supply of sufficient cupboard
accommodation, sufficiency of headroom, and of cubic space, of
light and of ventilation, and the many other details that stand
imminent during the day's work and the mother's toil.
Systematic house to house inspection is one of the chief, if not
the most important measure of sanitary administration and bears
more closely upon the comfort of home life than probably any other
procedure.
During 1909, 698 houses were inspected as a result of systematic
visitation. The numbers for preceding years were—1901,
1,746; 1902, 1,501; 1903, 1,447; 1904, 1,548; 1905, 2,250; 1906,
1,341; 1907, 806; 1908, 534.
The work is done in Finsbury upon standardised methods, and
the results in each separate house are drawn up in succinct tabular
form and laid on the table at each meeting of the Public Health
Committee.