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V
Annual Report on the Health and Sanitary
Condition of the City of Westminster.
19 2 7.
Mr. Mayor, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Annual Report for the year 1927.
This report is, in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of
Health, submitted as an ordinary report. The fuller survey reports are
required at the end of each quinquennium.
These Annual Reports are generally published about the end of
May, and the lateness of this year's publication requires some explanation.
The report is compiled normally during the first three months
of the year following the one to be considered, but on this occasion
this period was fully occupied owing to the work which fell to the
lot of the Department in consequence of the disastrous flooding of
the Thames on the night of January 6th-7th. Even in June there
still remains a considerable amount to be done.
On that night there was a large volume of flood water in the river
following an unusually heavy snowfall at Christmas. The existence
of very full tides urged by strong easterly winds from estuarial
regions, caused a condition whereby the abnormally swollen river
could not be contained within its banks. The embankment walls gave
way at the weakest points. Reliable eye-witnesses state, that the
torrent—some 7 or 8 feet in height—rushed through the breaches
with a loud roar and at the speed of an express train. In several
districts riverside houses were inundated. In Westminster a large
part of St. John's Ward suffered very greatly. The area affected