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FIFTY YEARS AGO
In 1918 the population of the Boroughs of Bethnal Green, Poplar and Stepney, which now
form the Borough of Tower Hamlets, was 510,640. Referring to the number of births during the
year(4,622) the Medical Officer of Health of Stepney stated that they had been declining for
years and were only a little over half the number in 1910 and 1912. Deaths of children under 1
in Stepney numbered 536, and in reporting the advent of the Maternity and Child Welfare Act,
1918, the Medical Officer of Health said there was still an enormous wastage of child life
which proper measures might abolish.
Deaths from measles in Poplar and Stepney totalled 296, and 880 children died under the age
of one, 101 being due to diarrhoea. In the Stepney area smallpox accounted for 23 deaths.
In his Annual Report for 1918 the Medical Officer of Health for Stepney reported:-
"The Public Health Committee have on many occasions called the attention of the Borough
Council and of the Local Government Board to the fraud perpetrated with impunity by dishonest
tradesmen under the cloak of the Warranty Clause.
One glaring instance of the abuse of the Warranty Clause is worth repeating. It is that
of a milkman residing in our district who was convicted 17 times- 11 summonses were for
adulteration,5 for refusing to serve the Inspector with milk, and 1 summons was for obstructing
the Inspector, On the latter occasion, the Inspector actually saw him adding water to the milk,
and when the Inspector demanded a sample from the mixture, the milkman tried to upset the can.
A struggle ensued and most of the milk was spilt, but sufficient remained in the can to be
analysed. This was divided into three parts in the ordinary way, and it showed 22 per cent of
added water.
He was prosecuted on several occasions after' this occurrence, and, although convicted
several times, the summonses were dismissed on a Warranty on 6 occasions, once when the milk
showed 21 per cent of added water. I am glad to state that this milkman will not defraud the
public in our district in a similar way again. He was caught red-handed on 28th and 30th
January, 1918, deliberately adding water to Milk. I reported the matter to the Local Food
Committee and was instructed to prosecute him under the Milk (Amendment) Order, 1917, No. 1317.
He was sentenced to four months' imprisonment, and his brother, who was assisting him in the
transaction to three months, and his name was removed from the Register of milk sellers.'*
The Minutes of the Stepney Council's Meeting of 8th October 1918 record the following:-
''We have had this question (as to whether any steps have been taken to impress upon H.M.
Government the need for a Ministry of Health without delay) under consideration, and would
direct the Council's attention to the fact that under present circumstances there are in addition
to the Council's Health Visitors, Inspectors appointed by various bodies and institutions in
the Borough, all working more or less with differing standards and all associated with the
administration of the public health, resulting in a great deal of over-lapping, and we are,
therefore, strongly of opinion that it would be in the interests of the public if a Ministry
of Health were created to co-ordinate the administration of these and similar agencies and to
bring them under one control."
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