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as to how they should behave in their relationship to the public and with others
living in their own homes.
Housing conditions in Campbell Road (later Whadcoat Street) off Seven Sisters
Road, were also a source of anxiety to Dr. Harris and, in fact, he mentioned in 1908
that as far back as 1896 he had inspected and found that nearly every room in the
road was overcrowded, sanitary accommodation was insufficient, and the houses themselves
infrequently and irregularly cleansed. He had, however, through the Inspectors,
been able to effect an improvement, but whilst he was able to say that Campbell
Road was better than in 1896, it was still far from perfection. Although the houses
were well built and of good external appearance, probably erected for the large
numbers of workmen and labourers who were employed in the building of the Great
Northern Railway in the neighbourhood, later on many of the houses became common
lodging houses or houses let in furnished lodgings, which deteriorated in
standard. The 79 houses let in furnished and unfurnished lodgings contained 1,273
persons of whom 486 were children under 12 years of age. Queensland Road was
also the subject of a special inspection and conditions were found to be similar, in that
there were 27 houses containing 169 rooms let out in furnished lodgings and in
which were living 341 persons of whom 94 were children.
With regard to food adulteration, butter and margarine sampling was very
much in evidence about this time. In 1910, 200 samples of butter were analysed by
the Public Analyst, out of which ten samples, or 5 per cent were adulterated. Practically
all these adulterations were actually substitutions of margarine for butter, for
which, of course, the very great difference in the prices of these foods was responsible.
Dr. Harris, as on most things, felt very strongly about food adulteration and
expressed himself in a Report in the following terms :—
" Similar sophistications are taking place with respect to other foods, so that
one never knows nowadays when a prosecution is undertaken what mine may
be sprung. Indeed, it may be that the defendants may boldly put forward the
plea that what has been done is ' the custom of the trade ' which in the eyes of
lawyers covers a multitude of offences, although the public may all the time have
imagined they are getting under a specific name the same article that they knew
in their childhood, and which their parents and grand-parents before them had
consumed."
Such an attitude is not entirely out of date.
Diphtheria anti-toxin was becoming increasingly used over the past few years
for the treatment of diphtheria and in 1910, Dr. Harris recommended that a supply
of anti-toxin be kept at the Town Hall and another supply at the Great Northern
Hospital, so that doctors would be able to obtain a supply of anti-toxin, day or night,
with a minimum of delay or formality.
The population of Islington had passed its maximum and the Census of 1911
showed for the first time since Census Returns began a decrease as compared with
1901, although the decrease was small. Dr. Harris mentioned that the character of
the Borough was also changing, he said,
"different classes of people are now occupying houses in Highbury, Canonbury
and Barnsbury, they aforetime were rented by carriage people and similar
wealthy folks or good middle class persons."
The present problems which we have with underground rooms were noted by
Dr. Harris in 1911 :—
" In their greed to build as much as they could on a given piece of land,
builders, who were for the most part of the speculative class, erected houses with