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III.—SANITARY ADMINISTRATION.
Staff.
During the year under report the Borough Council sustained a considerable loss in the
staff owing to the resignation of the chief sanitary inspector, Mr. Thomas. He had been in ill
health during the latter part of 1906 and the early part of 1907 and had to take change of air.
He found, however, that directly he came back to Bermondsey he relapsed, and, as a
consequence of medical reports on his condition, the Council decided to grant him a pension on
16th July for the twenty-four years' service up to the amalgamation of the vestries of
Bermondsey and Rotherhithe and the Board of Works for the St. Olave's District.
Partly owing to recommendations in my previous annual reports as to the advisability
of having a female sanitary inspector, the London County Council in 1906 addressed a letter
to this Council with reference to the staff of inspectors, and in December of that year wrote to
know if any steps had been taken to increase that staff. This led up to a special report
by myself and the chief inspector, and, when the question of the latter's resignation came up,
to a further report by the chairman of the Public Health Committee making various suggestions
as to the reorganisation of the outside staff. This was followed by another report by myself
suggesting various alterations, the gist of which was that there should be seven district
inspectors, and one inspector for looking after food and drugs, one for examining food, and
one female inspector for looking after factories and workshops where females are employed,
making a total outside staff of ten.
This was considered many times by the Committee without coming to any decision, and
finally, as there were only eight inspectors and the Council had failed to fill up the vacancy
caused by the resignation of Mr. Thomas, the London County Council reported us to the Local
Government Board as defaulters.
As nothing has been settled at the time of writing I purpose deferring this subject until
the next annual report.
Housing of the Working Classes Acts.
There was no action taken under the above Acts during the year under report.
Food and Drugs.
In Tables XIII. and XIV. of Appendix will be found a list of the samples taken in 1907
and the action taken. 1342 samples were taken, compared with 1163 in 1906 and 990 in 1905.
Of these 11.5 per cent, were found adulterated, compared with 10.4 per cent, in the previous
year, and 8.7 per cent. in 1905. There has been no alteration in the method of administering
the Food and Drugs Acts but the Committee have at present under consideration the question
of the appointment of a special inspector for this purpose. In the accompanying table will be
seen the percentages of milk fat in the various samples of genuine milk. They have been put
in tabular form this year for convenience. From this it will be seen that there were a greater
number of very poor samples in the year under report than in 1906.
Total Genuine Samples.
Milk Fat.
Under 3 per cent, and 3'5 per cent, and 4 per cent, and
3 per cent. under 3-5 per cent. under 4 per cent. over.
Year.
No. of Percentage No. of Percentage No. of Percentage No of Percentage
Samples.l of total. Samples, of total. Samples, of total. Samples, of total.
1903 371 132 1 8.6 134 36.1 135 36.4 70 18.9
1904 419 5 1.2 147 35.1 164 39.1 103 24.6
1905 505 9 1.7 216 42.8 168 33.3 112 22.2
1906 507 3 0.6 211 41.6 178 35.1 115 22.7
1907 617 24 3.9 232 37.6 249 40.3 112 18.1
Average 484 15 3.1 188 38.8 179 37.0 102 21.1
5 year
Cleansing of Persons Act, 1897.
The baths erected for the purpose of administering the above Act were put into working
order in January of the year under report.
The Committee made arrangements that the bath for males should be superintended by
the Disinfector in Charge and that the bath for females should be under the care of
Mrs. Delacour, the caretaker of the Council's shelter. It was decided her remuneration was
to be at the rate of 6d. per head with a maximum of 10s. per head. The number of adult
males who were cleansed and had their clothing disinfected under the Act was 45, and
the number of females 1; two other adult females, who came up in charge of children, received
baths, making a total of 3. It soon became apparent that, while they were used regularly by
a certain number of males, the applications from adult females were likely to be very small.
Bills setting forth the advantages of the baths, and cards for giving particulars of the applicant