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by the labours of those who devote their whole time to these
matters. The authorities of the Local Government Board should
remember that these reports are not issued for the satisfaction
of the inspectors who make the investigations on which the
report is based; they are not issued to swell that long line of
blue books, by which authorities would seemingly wish us to
measure their energies; they are not issued for the purpose of
conveying information to a chosen few who live within the charmed
circle of Whitehall: much alone, they are certainly not ordered and
paid for by the public, so that a few speculative booksellers, by
procuring and keeping back a certain number of copies, may make
exorbitant profits. They are issued, if I mistake not, for the good
of the people, and for imparting information to those to whom the
health of the people is entrusted. Let these reports be issued by all
means. Let no money be spared in collecting the information or in
printing it when collected ; but having done this, let a large number
of copies be printed and circulated far and wide (for the difference
of printing 10,000 over 1,000 copies is simply the question of paper),
so that the public generally may be benefitted by the work. This
system of hoarding up information has been going on too long. I
feel that, as a health officer, it is time to speak plainly. I therefore
venture, after due consideration, to say that the course adopted at
the present time in these matters by the Local Government Board
is, in my opinion, most unfair to medical officers of health generally,
and calculated to interfere with, or at any rate in no way to
assist the progress of sanitary science.
To you, gentlemen, I must express my sincere thanks for the
kind consideration you have at all times given to any suggestions I
have had to offer, whilst the cordial co-operation of the Sanitary
Committee is a matter for which I return them my sincere thanks.
Our work to be successful should be quiet and noiseless. We prefer
not to have a trumpet blown before us on our sanitary inspections.
The parish neither see nor know the work of your Sanitary Committee
or of your sanitary officers. We issue no flaming bills. We
publish our names as seldom as possible; indeed, the more we can
keep them in the background the better for our work. We know
that " in quietness must be our strength." We desire no police
court advertisement. We prefer to convince rather than to summons.