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4
Overcrowding is rife almost everywhere and there seems small
hope of improvement in the near future. The public health,
measured by statistics, remains good, but if the standard were
related to happiness, as it should be, then the sense of frustration
and almost of hopelessness of many people who have been seeking
proper accommodation for years without success, would push the
general level of the public health down lower than it was a year
ago. From the many letters received begging for help there are
many hundreds of families living with in-laws or sharing accommodation
which ought to be private such as W.C. and bathroom
with other families, or lacking bathrooms and hot water supplies,
or having nowhere for the children to play outdoors except the
street. There is little cause for surprise that parents lose heart
and children get out of hand in a home which in such circumstances
can hold so much bitterness.
The two needs which cry out for satisfaction above everything
are first and foremost more self-contained houses for occupation
by one family, and a close second more playing fields in which
children and young people particularly, can expend their natural
energy without risk of being at variance with the law.
To the Chief Officers of the Council and to the Public Health
Staff, my thanks are again due as also to the Public Health
Committee and other members of the Council, for their help and
criticism.
I am, Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
(Signed) A. G. G. THOMPSON.
July, 1950.