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1912] 240
tions were made, that from 1903 to 1908 these inspections were carried out
very rigorously, and that it was only from 1909 onwards that there was a
falling off of this work -a period which, of course, corresponds to the time
during which so many additional duties have been cast on the staff through
recent legislation and Local Government Board Orders. "Up to now,"
the Medical Officer of Health reported last year " there was no compulsion
to make these inspections, although the Local Government Board recommend
them, yet in future this will be so, for the Housing, Town Planning,
etc., Act leaves no option to sanitary authorities, while the Insurance Com
mittees appointed under the National Insurance Act are certain to see that
the work is done. How it is to be done by the present staff in Islington
without being relieved in other directions, in the manner pointed out by the
Medical Officer of Health, is a problem which remcins to be solved. " What
was necessary last year is even more necessary new.

The total number of houses inspected in the Borough since 1899, as seen
in the above statement, is 16,839, which represents a considerable proportion
of those in the Borough. At the last census there were 36,778 inhabited
buildings enumerated, containing 8.9 persons per building, which, strange
though it may appear, is an increase of the return per inhabited building in
1901, the average then being 8.67. This is a strange circumstance, for in
the meanwhile the population has decreased, and so far as can be ascertained
there is certainly less overcrowding in the borough now than then. This
seems to be all the more curious because in 1901 the average number of
persons per family was 4.23, whereas in 1911 it had fallen to 4.10.
Whether these figures be correct or not, the fact still remains that a
heavy work devolves on the Council with respect to the house to house
inspection of the Borough.