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purposes and not as a statutory obligation, increased by 51, presumably
due to considerable numbers of inward transfers to Greenwich.
The Mass Miniature Radiography Unit visited the Borough
from 15th March to 6th April, and I am pleased, as always, to include
in full an analysis of the results of the survey kindly supplied by
Dr. Morgan, the Director of the Unit.
There were 55 cases of Poliomyelitis notified, 23 of which were
of the paralytic type and 32 non-paralytic. This figure, however,
does not reflect accurately the incidence of the disease in Greenwich,
because some 38 were residents of neighbouring boroughs admitted
to and diagnosed in the Brook Hospital. Due to inconsistencies
of notification procedure for certain infectious diseases, and which
is entirely beyond our control, Greenwich has to accept them for
statistical purposes. The same rules apply to Puerperal Pyrexia,
and boroughs with large maternity hospitals or obstetric units are
heavily handicapped in having to accept puerperal pyrexias which,
on logical and epidemiological grounds, should be referred to the
borough of residence.
Once again, we had 1 case of Diphtheria, in this instance a
woman of middle age ; but Whooping Cough and Sonne Dysentery
showed considerable reduction on last year.
A complete survey of the Borough was undertaken by the staff,
under the Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, to ascertain the
total number of unfit houses in the Borough. Agreement was
eventually reached with the London County Council regarding totals
and allocations and the joint proposals of both authorities for 195660
were submitted to the Minister for his approval.
During the year the Clean Air Bill was passing through Parliament
and a new Clean Air Act is expected soon. In connection with
atmospheric pollution, the Department, in co-operation with the
Fuel Research Station, has set up apparatus at Charlton House and
the Town Hall for measuring smoke and sulphur dioxide concentrations.
Our readings commenced in June and will, of course, be
correlated with similar observations throughout London. Many
industrial sources of pollution were investigated during the year
and while most managements offered every co-operation in eliminating
dust, grit or smoke emissions, there are some areas in the Borough
where living conditions at times are difficult and where improvements
are vitally necessary. Within the limits imposed by somewhat
restricted legal powers, and the difficulties created in bygone
days of industry having been sited adjacent to residential areas, I
am certain the atmosphere in Greenwich is cleaner now than ever