View report page

2
Observations of the Sanitary Committee of
the Lambeth Vestry.
The Committee regrets that in the course of a
reputed enquiry into administration the expert did
not, as stated by himself, " make any enquiry into
the details of the routine of the office work of the
sanitary department of the vestry " ; that he has
chosen to give to a very efficient and deeply
lamented officer the credit belonging to the committee
which had charge of sanitary work; and,
further, that he altogether suppressed the fact,
well-known in the parish months before his visit,
that the vestry had resolved to get the utmost
efficiency of sanitary supervision by the appointment
of a medical officer who will spend his whole
time in the service of the parish.
The Committee is of opinion that its members,
who give no little time to parochial affairs, should
be protected from the serious reflections induced
by inaccuracy, want of knowledge, and the capricious
visitation of a paid official, who seems
determined to give point to his report by omitting
anything that might tell in favour of the vestry's
sanitary administration. This has already been
pointed out in the matter of the medical officer.
It is further exemplified by his references to areas
with which the vestry long ago proposed to deal,
but was prevented by the action of the Duchy of
Cornwall; and by the fact that the expert omitted
to state he failed to report on three properties in
the neighbourhood, as they had been already
closed owing to the action of the vestry.
The Sanitary Committee appends the details
upon which the foregoing observations are based,
and trusts that the Health Committee of the
Council will give their representative the opportunity
of revising a document so destitute of any
evidence of an attempt to do justice to public men,
no less anxious than the members of the Council
themselves to give their fellow-parishioners every
sanitary advantage.
Dr. Hamer reports upwards of 1,000 sets of
premises visited. Dr. Hamer does not add that to
find these premises he included areas already
condemned by the vestry, and chose not a complete
district, but went from court to place. In this way
were visited 206 streets, courts, etc., only 39 of
which are noted for special number of defects. The
defects tell their own story. They are such as are
daily produced, and might be found if selected
courts were inspected in any other parish of
London. To show the value of Dr. Hamer's observations
on the streets, etc., specially enumerated
as " particularly conspicuous for the number of
defects," the Committee submits the following
illustrations—
Victoria-place.—Dr. Hamer visited 10 out of 12
houses. In the only house dealt with in detail,
the wife of the occupier was ill. In all the other
houses our own inspector, who accompanied Dr.
Hamer, reports that at the time the average back
yard was 40 square feet; the width of courts was
8 feet and 3 feet 6 inches respectively; ground
ventilation provided ; also through ventilation ;
conspicuous absence of dampness in every case;
Comments by the Medical Officer.
As the result of application to Dr. Verdon, the
medical officer of health, Dr. Hamer was put in
communication with the chief inspector, who
arranged for the inspector of each district to
accompany him in the course of his inquiry.
Under these circumstances, Dr. Hamer was
enabled to learn the duties of the several sanitary
inspectors. He had proposed later to learn from
Dr. Verdon, or from the chief sanitary inspector,
the details of the office administration. Unfortunately,
however, the retirement of the former,
and the death of the latter, deprived him of this
opportunity, and in the absence of any reply from
the Vestry to the Council's letters, he felt himself
debarred from pursuing this branch of his inquiry
further.
Dr. Hamer's willingness to give credit to anything
which tells in favour of the Vestry's sanitary
administration is made apparent by reference to
the last paragraph on page 8 of his report, as well
as by reference to his statements with regard to
the chief inspector cited by the Sanitary Committee
of the Vestry in their preceding paragraph.
Dr. Hamer throughout his report has never stated
that the work done was badly done ; his sole contention
is that the amount of work was insufficient.
His reference to the areas which the Vestry and
Council had under consideration will be found on
page 7 of his report. That the Vestry had closed
three houses did not appearof such large importance
as to be deserving of comment.
Dr. Hamer's inspection was made as such
inspections should be made. He used his best
efforts to make himself acquainted with the district
generally, and to ascertain the actual state of houses
in many streets throughout a large area. He
thus, as it were, sampled the streets and
courts he visited. To have done more would
obviously have been unnecessary. His report
does not of course profess to give account of
every house he inspected, but supplies sufficient
illustrations of the conditions found in the district.
Dr. Hamer's report (page 5) enables comparison to
be made between the number of defects which he
met with in Lambeth and in two other districts
which he had somewhat recently inspected. For
the information of the Committee, Dr. Hamer has
now extracted from his notes fuller account of the
localities mentioned in the observations of the
Sanitary Committee of the Vestry.
Further information supplied by Dr. Hamer—
Victoria-place.—I referred to this court (page
6) as presenting, in addition to defects admitting
of easy remedy, other more radical defects of
position and arrangement of the houses. In
addition, however, to what I have said, my notes
show that in two instances in this court the
water-closet trap was broken, and in one of these
serious nuisance was caused by the sewage welling
up in the yard. In three instances water-closets