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19
OTHER DETAILS OF ADMINISTRATION.
Staff.—There are five Sanitary Inspectors and four Clerks in
the Medical Officer's Department. In addition, there are two
caretakers attached to the maternity centres; one caretaker at
the coroner's court and mortuary, and two disinfectors. Occasional
labour for drainage work is obtained as it is required. All
the members of staff have done work of a high standard of excellence
throughout the year; and the thanks of the Medical Officer
are due to all of them, and especially to the Senior Sanitary
Inspector, Mr. Thorpe, and to the Chief Clerk, Mr. Gilroy.
Borough Laboratory.—This is situated at the Isolation Hospital.
The majority of the specimens examined were from the
Hospital itself and from the School Clinic. During the year
1,217 specimens were examined in the laboratory, and of these
1,030 were swabs taken for the diagnosis of diphtheria infection.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF ANIMALS ACTS.
No cases of suspected Rabies were reported, and no cases
of Parasitic Mange were brought to our notice. The Veterinary
Inspector, Mr. J. Buxton, M.R.C.V.S., granted several certificates
for the movement of animals during the year, and also
examined some cows and steers which were stated to have been
in contact with infectious disease.
HOUSING.
Hornsey is mainly a residential town of good-class houses,
but here and there are patches of inferior house property. There
are, however, no insanitary areas and no slums. A slum can
be defined as a collection of dwellings which are grossly overcrowded
and in such an insanitary condition that they are not fit
for human habitation. Certainly there are houses in the Borough
overcrowded, but none in which insanitation co-exists with the
overcrowding. The Health Department perpetually has under
review the poorer class of house, and, by timely repairing, these
properties are prevented from further disintegration.