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vi.
REPORT
OF THE
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE YEAR 1916.
To the Worshipful the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington.
Dear Mr. Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
In presenting my Annual Report I have to regret its late appearance, due
to printing difficulties, which, I understand, were unavoidable.
The amount of work by the staff shown in the report is not so great as
usual, but this is due to the fact that five of the inspectors are away at the
War, besides one death vacancy. Arrears of work are accumulating, and
therefore it will become necessary to replace them by the appointment of
temporary inspectors, as so many other boroughs have been compelled to do
in similar circumstances.
The chief feature in the Report is that which deals with the growing
interest which is now taken, not only by the public itself, but by the Council,
in Child Welfare. That is well proved not only by the appointment of Health
Visitors but by the subscriptions given to the three Welfare Centres by the
Council.
These incidents bear strong testimony to the fact, which has afforded me
the greatest pleasure, that the Council have at length fallen into line with all
the great Sanitary Authorities of the Kingdom. Attention to Child Welfare
means the saving of children's lives in large numbers and is more important
now than at any previous time in British history. Indeed the nation at last
fully realises it, and the mothers—even the poorest—are taking deeper interest
in the welfare of their babies than they have previously done.