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5
section on Housing contained in the Annual Report for 1930
should be on a more extensive scale than usual, as indicated
in Appendix I."
In regard to the former of these special matters, namely,
the transfer of the Poor Law from the Edmonton Guardians to
the County of Middlesex, there is very little to record so far as
the Municipal Borough of Hornsey is concerned. The only additional
work falling to the Health Department is the supervision
of foster children under Part I. of the Children Act, 1908. This
work is done by the Health Visitors in the course of their routine
visiting.
The other matter upon which more detailed information is
asked for is the important question of Housing. The Housing
Act, 1930, confers on local authorities new duties and powers
in regard to Housing in their areas. One of these is the duty
of furnishing to the Minister of Health a statement of the
measures proposed to be taken in the next five years to improve
the Housing conditions of the people. The Act is an incitement
to local health authorities "to wipe out the slums," which are
a disgrace to many of our large industrial cities.
There has been some loose talk in Hornsey about the slums
of the Borough. With the exception of certain small groups of
houses (numbering 86 houses in all), so old and decayed that
they have outlived their usefulness as human habitations, the
Borough of Hornsey has no slums.
Details of the work done, and, the Housing statistics, will
be found in the Report.
I desire to acknowledge the good work done by the Sanitary
Inspectors in response to your Committee's desire to pursue an
active campaign in Housing, and in maintaining a healthy
environment for the population of the Borough.
Sound health is not, however, a question only of the houses
we live in, but the kind of lives we live in them. Equally
important, therefore, is the work of officers whose duty it is to
provide education in personal hygiene from infancy onward.
Excellent work of this kind is constantly being carried on at the