London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hackney 1919

Report on the sanitary condition of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney for the year 1919

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138
SPECIAL REPORT BY THE LATE DR. J. KING WARRY,
DATED "JANUARY 30th, 1919."
To the Chairman and, Members
of the Public Health Committee.
Sanitary Condition of Nisbet Street.
Gentlemen,
I have carefully considered the Rev. A. H. Dacombe's letter,
dated 6th November, 1918, on the above subject and beg herewith
to report thereon.
In the first place I wish to state that my attention was drawn
to the condition of the Nisbet Street houses about the middle of
September last, owing to the occurrence of some cases of diphtheria
amongst the children living there. From the result of. the inspections
following these notifications, I detailed as soon as possible two
sanitary inspectors to make a house-to-house inspection of the whole
street.
They began their work on the 14th October and continued it
until the whole of the 75 houses in this street were inspected.
In the letter of the Rev. A. H. Dacombe, four definite assertions
are made respecting the Nisbet Street houses, viz.:—
1. "There have been many cases of diphtheria there lately."
2. "Some of the houses, I know, are infested with rats."
3. "Many of them are quite unfit for habitation."
4. "These houses which are really unfit for swine
to live in."
(1) With respect to the incidence of diphtheria, I give below
a table showing the total number of cases of diphtheria which