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appointed; two men who are concerned with the work of conveying infected and disinfected articles to
and from the disinfecting apparatus, and with the disinfection of rooms, render occasional assistance to
the inspectors in the serving of notices, &c.
For the last three years books have been kept recording house to house inspections, and the
inspectors devote any spare time they may have to carrying out this work. Details relating to about
1,000 houses have been entered in the books. The inspectors in the course of their work are on the
look out for workshops, and when they come across one they make a note of the same that the fourth
inspector may deal with it. The other duties of this fourth inspector are, however, heavy, and little of
his time is available for this purpose.
Regulations with respect to houses let in lodgings were made by the Board, under section 35 of
the Sanitary Act of 1866. Mr. Liddle, formerly medical officer for Whitechapel, in a report " Upon the
necessity of retaining the present staff of four inspectors of nuisances," presented in 1868, refers to
efforts which were made to carry out the special inspection of houses let out in separate tenements. The
registration and systematic periodical inspection of such houses soon appears, however, to have been
given up. The Board have now made by-laws relating to houses let in lodgings or occupied by members
of more than one family, under section 94 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. These by-laws were
confirmed on December 21st, 1893. Their systematic enforcement throughout the district would be
productive of great benefit. The exemption clause however (2nd by-law) excludes unfurnished lodgings
let at a rent exceeding 5s. per week, and furnished lodgings let at a rent exceeding 7s. 6d. a week.
These limits will be found in practice to exclude rooms which it might be desirable to register. Bylaws
have also been made by the Board under the following sections of the Public Health (London)
Act, viz., section 16 (1) relating to cleansing streets and prevention of nuisances, and sections 39 (2)
and 50 relating to the supply of water to water-closets and to the cleansing of cisterns respectively.
On receipt of complaints each is numbered with a reference number and entered into an
intimation book, the number of the preliminary notice served being also inserted. Hence the
number of preliminary notices served is practically a guide to the number of complaints received.
This number for the year 1893 is given by Mr. Loane in his annual report as 2,777. These are by no
means all written complaints, indeed many of them would be verbal complaints or complaints entered on
the inspectors' initiative. In dealing with complaints the inspectors do not limit their attention to the
defects specified, but thoroughly examine the houses referred to, and insist upon improvements of a
substantial character. The extensive drainage operations which have been carried out, and the radical
transformation which has been effected in many sets of premises in the district cannot fail to impress
anyone who visits a number of houses in Whitechapel.
Having regard to the mass of complaints which are received by the sanitary department, and
to the fact that the work found to be required in the premises visited is superintended in a thorough
manner, it appears impossible for the two inspectors to find opportunity for extending their inquiries
far beyond the particular houses to which their attention is directed. The temporary assistant and
the clerk make inspections, but the more they help out of doors the less they can do in the office, and
the clerical work of the department if relegated to them would certainly claim the whole of their attention.
The chief inspector and the fourth inspector have their time occupied with special work. It thus comes
about that but little can be done by the existing staff in the way of house-to-house inspection, that no
systematic attempt can be made to carry out the by-laws relating to houses let in lodgings (and more
particularly to enforce those of their provisions which relate to cleanliness and over-crowding,) and that
it is impossible to bring under thorough control the large number of workshops.
In a district like Whitechapel it is especially necessary that the strength of the staff should be
sufficient to admit of the establishment of a system of periodical examination of every house, and of
frequently repeated inspection of the majority of the houses. In the absence of such a system, and in
the event of the best efforts of the staff remaining as they now are in great part absorbed in the attempt
to make headway against the complaints, notifications, &c., received, but slow progress can be made, and
it will continue to be impossible to bestow any greater share of attention upon parts of the district
which, while they most need supervision, are those to which the attention of the Board is least likely to
be called by the inhabitants themselves.
W. H. Hamer,
Assistant Medical Officer of Health.