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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF
HEALTH FOR THE YEAR 1903.
To the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Commons
of the Corporation of London.
Public Health Department,
Guildhall, E.C.,
April, 1904.
Gentlemen,
In presenting my fourth Annual Report as Medical Officer of
Health for the City of London, it may be convenient to refer here to the most
important undertakings in which your Staff has been engaged during the
year under review.
1. One matter which attracted much public attention during the summer
was the importation into this country of infected military blankets from South
Africa, which for the time involved a heavy correspondence, and threw a great
strain upon the resources of the Department. Full details will be found in the
following pages.
2. In the latter part of the year the polluted shellfish question was again
forced upon the notice of your Medical Officer, and it was probably
owing to the definite action taken by the Corporation in the endeavour to
prevent the continued sale of unwholesome shellfish that the Royal Commission
on Sewage Disposal issued their fourth Report. As the matter stands at
present it is clear that legislation on the subject is inevitable.
3. The inspection and registration of all workshops and workplaces
throughout the City is being pushed forward as rapidly and completely as
circumstances permit, and special attention has been given to tailors' workshops,
bakehouses—both under and above ground—also to kitchens of
restaurants and other places where food is prepared for sale.
4. Fresh evidence is daily forthcoming of the usefulness of the work in
which your Woman Sanitary Inspector is engaged, and it is not too much to
say that her services have now become essential to the comfort and well-being
of those of her sex who earn their living in the City.
5. The statutory powers now in the hands of Local Authorities for controlling
the manufacture and sale of ice cream have been fully utilised, and
have already proved to be of much advantage to the public.