View report page

u
5
The water supply of the district is provided by the New River Waterworks Company, and the
constant supply exists in all parts. In some houses the water is drawn direct from the main, but in
many storage cisterns still exist.
For the sanitary administration of the district the authority has appointed the following officers,
namely—
A medical officer of health.
Three sanitary inspectors.
One sanitary clerk.
In addition to these officers there is a keeper of the mortuary who also carries out, under the
direction of the sanitary inspectors, the disinfection of rooms after the occurrence of cases of infectious
diseases, and a messenger in the office who acts as the inspector for smoke nuisances. In the department
of the surveyor there is an inspector who superintends the cleansing of streets. This officer is a
certified sanitary inspector.
The medical officer of health attends at the offices of the Board daily, and controls and
supervises the work of the sanitary department. He also acts as medical officer of health for another
metropolitan district.
As regards the work of the three sanitary inspectors, one of these officers devotes his time solely
to meat inspection. The remaining two have to carry out all the duties arising in the district under
the Public Health Act (except those relating to smoke nuisances) and to collect samples under the
Food and Drugs Act. For these purposes the district has been divided into two districts, one being
allotted to each inspector. The time of the inspectors is chiefly taken up in visiting premises in
reference to which complaint has been made and in which infectious disease has occurred. All
drainage works carried out in the district are inspected by the sanitary inspectors before being
regarded as satisfactory. In a small part of the district they have made a house-to-house inspection,
and they are expected to visit houses let in lodgings at periodical intervals. The inspectors are provided
with office accommodation at the Town Hall, and attend there daily in the morning and afternoon.
Each inspector assists in filling up his own intimation notices, and keeps a daily journal, and enters
in a report book the result following the service of intimation notices, and whether he considers it
necessary that a statutory notice be served or proceedings be taken in any case.
In the office there is kept by the clerk a complaint book in compliance with section 107 (3)
Public Health (London) Act, 1891. This book fails to show clearly the result of action in all cases,
and a new form of register which is to be kept has recently been approved by the Board. The clerk
also fills up the intimation and statutory notices, and the counterfoils of these books show that the
requirements are in each case comprehensive.
The sanitary authority for the district of Holborn is a Board of Works, and for matters relating
to the public health there is a committee of the Board which holds meetings every fortnight. The
committee possesses statutory powers for carrying out the duties under the Public Health (London)
Act, 1891. All cases in which there is failure to comply with the requirements of preliminary notices
are reported to the committee before further action is taken, except in cases of urgency.
The Board have made by-laws under the Public Health Act for the prevention of nuisances,
the paving of yards, the cleansing of cisterns and the provision of water-closets with adequate water
supply. Under section 96 of the Act which relates to the making of by-laws for houses let in lodgings
no by-laws have yet been made as the Board possess regulations which were confirmed in 1885. These
differ from the model by-laws of the Local Government Board in that the minimum amount of cubic
space required in rooms used both as sleeping and day rooms is 350 feet and not 400 feet.
As the result of this inquiry evidence has been obtained that much work in the abating and
removal of insanitary conditions is being carried out in the district. Much activity has also
been displayed in the seizure and condemnation of meat unfit for human consumption since the
appointment of an inspector specially for the purpose. The appointment of this inspector has, no
doubt, by relieving the other officers of the duties connected with the sale of meat in the district,
resulted in more time being devoted to the condition of premises than hitherto, and house-to-house
inspections have been made, but they have been limited to certain parts of the district up to the
present time; however, the registration of houses let in lodgings has not been enforced to any extent
by the sanitary authority, there being only some forty-three houses on the register. It has already been
pointed out that a large proportion of the inhabited houses in this district are occupied by members of
more than one family, the tenements consisting for the most part of one or two rooms, and there is
little doubt that a much greater number than at present should be placed on the register. Much
improvement in their condition would be derived from systematic inspection by the sanitary officers of
many of these premises. The Board appreciating the advantages of periodic inspection of houses of
this class have recently passed a resolution that all registered houses shall be visited once in each week.
The need for registration of a greater number of houses let in lodgings, together with the
existence at the present time of the many defects recorded in this report, and the absence of any
definite information in the possession of the sanitary authority as to the workshops in the district and
their condition, indicate that a systematic house-to-house inspection should be made without delay
throughout the district. This will necessitate an increase to the present staff of inspectors, as the time
of the existing staff is taken up by the work now carried out by the authority. Further, it is to be
observed that at the present time no direct control is exercised on behalf of the sanitary authority as to
the method in which the collection of house refuse is carried on in the district. It will, I think, be
necessary therefore to appoint two additional officers now, but a further increase may be called for at
a later date when all tenement houses needing regulation are placed on the register, if the decision of
the Board as to monthly inspection is to be carried out. Reference has been made to the existence in