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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan
Borough of Lambeth.
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present to you the 94th Annual Report
upon the health of the Borough of Lambeth. Again owing to the
absence of serious epidemic disease the general health of the community
has been good but it is becoming increasingly evident that
too much is being taken for granted over the present day amenities
and too little attention paid to the slender barriers which intervene
between health and illness. Good safe water comes out when the
tap is turned, the drains and dustbins take all our waste, food is
by and large safe to eat and we are not unduly exposed to infection
through the air we breathe, but how close the margin of safety is
can be realised from the Brighton and Glasgow smallpox epidemics
of the past two years, or the Croydon typhoid epidemic before the
war.
The trend of legislation since the end of the war has predisposed
the general public to regard the treatment of their diseases as the
principal aim and object of medical thought which in fact it is for
most medical men. Prevention of disease was never spectacular,
it was always an uphill struggle, and never more so than today
when even the Parliamentary dice are loaded against hygiene and
in favour of disease treatment. It is too easy to obtain expensive
drugs for the treatment of a rare disease and though much easier
it is still too difficult to get a bed for the isolation of a chronic case
of respiratory tuberculosis who is risking the health of everyone
with whom he is in contact and more particularly the children of
his family. Because exposure to tuberculosis is not quickly followed
by the infection of others, there is more than a tendency to forget
that it is a dangerous infectious disease the seeds of which are sown
today but may not result in the illness of others for months or years.
The Registrar General has estimated the population to have been
231,000 at the middle of 1950, an increase of 1,600. The new
dwellings completed during' the year were 631 so that the degree of
overcrowding is not materially altered. Houses in general are
getting older faster than new ones can be built to take their place
and it follows therefore that the general standard of housing is
slowly being lowered. There is no alternative but to accept this
for all except the privileged few who become tenants of municipal
accommodation. They are not then protected by the Rent and
Mortgage Interest Restrictions Acts it is true, as local authorities,
unlike other owners, can increase rents and obtain possession
whenever they wish, but their rents are heavily subsidised by the
other less fortunate ratepayers and taxpayers. The rents of