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68
Sanitary Condition and Administration of Districts.
During the year the sanitary circumstances of Deptford, Whitechapel, Mile-end Old-town and
Bethnal-green were investigated on behalf of the Council, the inquiry into Deptford being made by
Dr. Young, into Whitechapel and Mile-end Old-town by Dr. Hamer, and into Bethnal-green by Dr.
Young. Copies of the reports of these officers will be found in the appendix (see Appendices VII.,
VIII., IX. and X.)
Dr. Young found that for the purposes of Deptford an increase of the staff of sanitary inspectors
was necessary. Dr. Hamer arrived at a similar conclusion as a result of his enquiry into the sanitary
circumstances of Whitechapel. In the case of Mile-end Old-town, Dr. Hamer expressed the opinion
that when the vestry enforced by-laws for houses-let-in-lodgings, the existing staff of sanitary inspectors
would be found inadequate. In respect to Bethnal-green Dr. Young also found the staff of sanitary
inspectors insufficient for the wants of the district. In Deptford the mortuary accommodation was
found to be unsatisfactory. In Whitechapel no shelter had been provided for the use of persons
during the disinfection of their houses as required by section 60 of the Public Health (London) Act,
but the subject was under the consideration of the district board. In Bethnal-green a shelter had not
been provided, and Dr. Young points to the necessity of such provision.
These several reports were forwarded to the sanitary authorities concerned, and led to increase
of the staff of sanitary inspectors in Deptford, Whitechapel, and Bethnal-green.
In 1893 I presented to the Public Health Committee a report upon the sanitary condition and
administration of the district of St. Saviour, Southwark. A copy of this report was communicated to
the district board of St. Saviour, and the recommendation as to the staff of sanitary inspectors embodied
in the report was in 1894 adopted by that authority.
The provision of a proper mortuary and of better apparatus for the disinfection of infected
articles has not yet been made and is much needed.
Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors.
The Public Health (London) Act, 1891, requires that the Council shall pay a moiety of the
salary of every medical officer of health and sanitary inspector appointed or re-appointed after the
passing of the Act. Up to the end of the year 1894, 35 medical officers of health and 142 sanitary
inspectors had been thus appointed or re-appointed.

In 1894 I presented to the Public Health Committee a report based upon information supplied
by London Medical Officers of Health as to the number of Sanitary Inspectors in each district of the
County (see Appendix XI.)
The London Building Act, 1894.
During the year 1894 the London Building Law was consolidated and amended. The Act of
1894 is especially deserving of comment in the report of the medical officer of health, inasmuch as it
recognises for the first time in London the principle that (in addition to the height of the building
being proportionate to the width of the street on which it abuts, which point is touched on lower down),
the amount of open space about the rear of a building should also be proportionate to its height, and
hence the future crowding of buildings on area is put under limitation.
The Act requires in the case of domestic buildings erected after the commencement of the
Act which shall have a habitable basement, that there shall, for the purpose of giving light and air to
such basement, be provided in the rear of the building and exclusively belonging to it, an open space
of not less than 100 square feet, free from any erection above the level of the pavement.
If the domestic building be erected abutting upon a street formed or laid out after the
commencement of the Act it shall have at its rear an open space, exclusively belonging to it, of not less
* Appointment or re-appointment sanctioned by Local Government Board. A moiety of the salary
appertaining to these appointments is payable by the London County Council.