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required can be executed at reasonable cost. With the low rent values
of many of the unfit houses in the borough, this condition could not
be complied with. If, however, the Rent Bill as proposed leads to an
increase in the rents of these houses, the Council will be able to
reassess the value of the houses compared with the cost of repairs and,
once again, commence to enforce their powers to repair houses under
Section 9» There is no doubt that the need to preserve housing
accommodation in the borough is acute, especially in view of the
comparatively high costs of building new accommodation on expensive
sites.
Food Hygiene. The Regulations in regard to the protection of
food supplies made by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
and the Minister of Health, acting jointly, under the Food and Drugs
Act, 1955, came into operation fully (with one small exception) on the
1st July, 1956.
There has been a concentration of effort in the last twelve
months to secure strict compliance with the Regulations by all food
manufacturers and traders in the borough. Generally speaking, there
has been willing co-operation on all sides and the results of the efforts
can be seen in the borough by the improved methods of food handling,
storage and exposure for sale in the many food shops serving Kensington
residents and others. The protection of open foods on display counters
behind glass screens is becoming a common feature in the Kensington food
shops, and there is no doubt that the standards are improving rapidly.
General. The Sanitary Inspectors (Change of Designation)
Act, 1956, received Royal Assent on the 2nd August, 1956, and provided
that sanitary inspectors shall henceforth be designated "public health
inspectors".
For the past few years it has not been possible to recruit the
required number of public health inspectors and this position is common
throughout the Metropolitan area.
This persistent shortage of inspectors could have an adverse
effect on the work of the department, particularly having regard to the
additional work resulting from new legislation dealing with food hygiene
and smoke abatement, and also the Council's slum clearance programme.
The Council have adopted a scheme for enrolling students for
training as public health inspectors and authority was given to appoint
two men, subject to certain conditions. One has already commenced
training and it is hoped to start a second man in the near future. The
Minister of Health in Circular 19/56 supports the view that the best
training is obtained by those students who are engaged by a local authority
specifically as pupils or student public health inspectors and he has no
doubt that local authorities will bear this in mind and consider the
advantages of adopting a system of paid pupillage or, where appropriate,
of extending existing arrangements.
Dr. W. C. Turner, the Council's Deputy Medical Officer of Health,
resigned his post and left on the 2Jrd September, 1956, to take up an
appointment as Medical Officer of Health for the Metropolitan Borough of
Poplar. Dr. Turner was with the Council for nearly six years and rendered
excellent service at all times. His place has been taken by Dr. Hastings
E. A. Carson, who took up his appointment as Deputy Medical Officer of
Health on the 15th October, 1956.
It is with regret that I have to record the unusual occurrence
of an officer dying in service. Mr. A. V. Boddington, the Superintendent
at the Medicinal Baths, who had been in the Council's service for twentyseven
years, unfortunately died on the 22nd May, 1956. He had at all
times given loyal and efficient service to the Council.
VITAL STATISTICS
The table set out on the next two pages gives the important
vital statistics for 1956, together with comparative figures for the
previous seven years.