View report page

160
Resignation of Mr. Long, Chief Sanitary Inspector, and the
appointment of a successor.
By the retirement of Mr. Long the Council has lost an excellent and
capable officer, and tbe Public Health Staff a sincere friend who was an
example of what a colleague ought to be. Mr. Long's service of nearly
forty years under the Newington Vestry, and later under the Southwark
Borough Council, is very exceptional in regard to length. He was, I
believe, the oldest in service of all London Sanitary Inspectors. Many of
us served our apprenticeship to Public Health under him. Although in
the ordinary way he might be said to be advanced in years, yet at his
retirement we all thought him a young man. He was the father of the
Public Health Staff, and we all owe much to his sound and kind advice.
The position of Mr. Long on the staff was unique, and it could hardly be
expected that another would exactly occupy his position. On the
appointment of a successor I made the following report to the Public
Health Committee:—
To the Chairman and Members of the Public Health Covimittee.
30th March, 1909.
Gentlemen,
I have to report in respect of the vacancy arising from the
retirement on account of age of Mr. Long, the late Chief Sanitary
Inspector.
I believe it is the pretty general opinion among the members of
the Council that the office and name of Chief Sanitary Inspector
should not be continued. I may say that the office of Chief Sanitary
Inspector, from force of circumstances, has become entirely unnecessary.
At a period when the Medical Officer of Health gave but
a small portion of his time to the work it was imperative that there
should be such an officer as the Chief Sanitary Inspector who would
be constantly in command, but now with a whole.time Medical
Officer of Health matters have completely changed, and the appointment
has become in a very large measure obsolete.
The Council at the inception of the Borough in arranging the
various departments, excepting that of Public Health, and in setting