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39
It is obvious that the consideration of these subjects
must be governed by the circumstances and conditions
affecting the particular locality to be dealt with. It is
difficult, therefore, to suggest any scheme of reform with
regard to any of the matters referred to which would be
universally applicable to London. Any scheme, for example,
which might be adopted in one district with
advantage might be quite unsuitable for another. We
have, therefore, confined ourselves to replying to the
various questions in as brief and concise a manner as
possible, more especially as we are of opinion that in view
of the near amalgamation of this and other adjoining
parishes under the Local Government Act, the subjects
in question would be more fittingly dealt with by the new
municipality, which they will then more particularly
concern.
I have received and answered a number of communications
from the Medical Officer of Health of the London
County Council, and from other Medical Officers of Health,
on various sanitary matters connected with the Parish.
One of the letters I received from the Medical Officer of
Health of the London County Council was with reference
to house-to-house inspection and the systematic inspection
of schools, to which I made the following reply:—
It is not the practice of the Sanitary Authority to carry
on a system of house-to-house inspection without waiting
for complaints as to insanitary condition, unless under
special circumstances such as the outbreak of disease in any
particular street or district, when a house-to-house inspection
is made; as I have for years past advised the Authority
that a house-to-house inspection except under special
circumstances is illegal, and that opinion was last year confirmed
by the judgment given by Messrs. Justices Lawrence
and Channel (in the case of "Vines v. North London Collegiate
and Camden School for Girls," High Court of Justice,
Queen's Bench Division, January 18th, 1899), on which
I prepared a special Report, which is to be found in my last
Annual Report to the Vestry, pages 25-26.
For the same reason the schools in this district are not
periodically inspected by the Officers of the Sanitary
Authority, hut as a matter of fact all the schools are
inspected from time to time whenever any cases of infectious
disease are reported in them or any complaint received with
respect to them.