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the object of securing the fair and reasonable treatment of owners
and their tenants.
Kindly inform me when my protest will be brought to the notice
of your Council, and when I may hope to receive its reply.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) R. DICKINS.
J. A. Johnson, Esq.
(Copy).
Medical Officer of Health's report in reply to Mr. Dickins'
letter to the Town Clerk.
Borough of Southwark.
Public Health Department,
Town Hall, Walworth Road,
10th December, 1906.
Gentlemen,
Mr. Dickins' charge against me of pursuing a system of persecution
against owners and their lessees in Southwark is a very grave
one, and must be very fully enquired into to see whether the grounds
upon which the allegation is based are of a substantial nature and
justify the charge, or that the allegation is simply due to irritation
caused by the action the Council have always directed me to take in
regard to house to house inspection
The action taken by this department in regard to the drains of
Lord Llangattock's houses has always been precisely similar to that
adopted in connection with houses of other property owners of the
Borough, and in no single instance have the other large property
owners complained that our mode of procedure in the examination of
defective drains was other than fair or reasonable. It is singular,
that, although this method of uncovering drains has been going on
for the last twelve years in the Borough, this is the first time that
any public complaint has been made as to its being improper and
unfair.
The inspections made to ascertain the condition of the drains of
Lord Llangattock's houses have always followed either on a complaint,
or on the presence of infectious disease, or have been a part
of the systematic inspection of the district by the sanitary inspector.