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5
As opposed to the experience in 1927, small-pox manifested
itself in the Borough in the autumn of 1928 and the spring of
1929. All the cases, many of which originated in the same
households, were of a very mild type.
Upon a sanitary environment and a pure food supply, health
largely depends. It is most satisfactory to point to the volume
of work being undertaken by the Housing and the District
Sanitary Inspectors in the maintenance of property in the.
Borough. Much of this property is old and worn out, and
moderately habitable conditions can be maintained only at the
price of eternal vigilance on the part of these Officers. No
fewer than 29,000 nuisances were discovered and remedied at
7,204 premises during the year—an excellent record !
The counterpart to a sanitary domestic environment is a
sanitary workshop environment. In a highly industrialized
district like Bethnal Green, conditions unfavourable to health
would soon arise were adequate supervision not exercised. The
fact that 4,905 inspections were made, and 2,000 defects found,
and remedied, is sufficient testimony to the high efficiency
attained by the Workshops Inspector.
Food inspection comprises diverse duties. Supervision over
the place of manufacture, inspection for unsound food, and.
" sampling " of food and drugs—all most important duties—are
carried out by the Food Inspectors with a degree of thoroughness
worthy of the highest praise, and, in its results, warrants the
assertion that Bethnal Green boasts a food supply of as high a
standard as is possible under existing legislation.
This report purports to be a faithful statement of the year's
work. The recording of that work, the compilation of the
necessary statistics, the correlation of the work of the outdoor
staff, duties punctiliously carried out by the clerical staff, under
the very capable direction of the Chief Clerk, enable me to say
that the Public Health work of this Borough is based on a sure
foundation.
It only remains for me, in relinquishing my appointment
as Medical Officer of Health, to express my thanks to the
Committee for their collective and individual support, to express
my appreciation for the loyal and unswerving devotion of the
Public Health Department, and to thank my colleagues in other
Departments for their ever-ready co-operation and assistance.
F. LEONARD KEITH,
Medical Officer of Health,