View report page

2
Nevertheless a small Re-housing Department has been set up under the direction of the Town
Clerk, which works in close co-operation with the City Engineer and the Medical Officer of Health.
Consideration was given by the three departments concerned to about a hundred properties ,and by
requisition and conversion it has been possible to rehouse 75 families of whom 34 were homeless and
37 overcrowded and four had other urgent claims to accommodation in the City. There remained
at the end of the year some 310 families entitled to rehousing.
Very full consideration was given to the question of sites for temporary houses. Your Medical
Officer was very anxious to adopt this, the speediest method of alleviating overcrowding. Numerous
sites in the bombed areas were visited, the Ministry of Health was consulted and the Ministry's
Officers paid several visits, but ultimately it was reluctantly concluded that there were no sites in
the City suitable for temporary housing. In the majority of cases the basements of blitzed buildings
have been excavated and the expense of filling in and consolidating these basements would have
made the cost of temporary houses prohibitive. Even where the ground was level the areas were too
small or there were other difficulties or dangers which made the sites unsuitable.
There are still over 300 families who have a claim to be rehoused in the City. A small number of
these will be rehoused as vacancies occur in the dwellings under the control of the Corporation.
Nearly half the families are newly-married couples or young married couples with one child. Many
of these are mobile and may find work and accommodation elsewhere.
But the Corporation desires to make such contribution as is practicable to the permanent solution
of the housing problem and has approved in principle a proposal to erect in the Bridgewater Square
area, a block of some 250 flats. Numerous problems arise in connection with such a scheme and these
are under consideration by the Ministry of Health and the Improvements and Town Planning
Committee of the Corporation.
Food Inspection.
During January and February of 1946, the Meat Depots returned to the City and were installed
in the East and West sections of Smithfield Market. The work of your staff of meat inspectors increased
with the activity of the Market. Before the war the staff numbered 14, during the war it fell to five ;
since no new appointments were made. With the return of the Meat Depots to Smithfield it became
necessary to increase the staff and two new appointments were made bringing the total staff of inspectors
to seven, exclusive of the Veterinary Officer and the Chief Meat Inspector, Mr. Grace, who is
still seconded to the Ministry of Food.
The total amount of Meat delivered at Smithfield Market during the year was 237,764 tons.
The amount condemned as diseased or unsound was about 173 tons. The two unofficial strikes in the
market caused some 30 tons of meat to become unfit for human consumption.
The quantity of other foods condemned at riverside wharves and at premises in the City was
some 338 tons. Your officers realise fully the present difficulties in maintaining the nation's food
supply and do their best to prevent waste of any description. Nearly 322 tons of this condemned food
was utilised for stock feeding and for various industrial purposes, only some 16 tons being actually
destroyed. But from time to time it happens that consignments of food,showing signs of deterioration
on arrival, would in large part be fit for human food if they could be put into consumption rapidly.
The longer they are delayed the further the deterioration spreads. In normal times the owner will
take immediate steps to find a suitable market for the food,to save himself serious financial loss.
Under the present conditions of central control and the absence of the incentive of personal financial
interest, the wheels move too slowly, there is delay in marketing the food and thereby much is lost
that might have been saved.
Sampling of Food and Drugs.
The various orders of the Ministry of Food in regard to standards and to declarations of composition
and labelling of articles of food, have had a salutary effect in preventing the public from being
exploited. At the same time it is to be remembered that though the same, or perhaps greater,
nutritive value could be obtained for less expenditure of money from ordinary foods than from
proprietary articles, the public is prepared to pay for convenience and appearance. There is therefore
a legitimate field for prepared and manufactured articles of food attractively presented and quickly
and easily served. Nutrition is not simply a question of chemistry and physiology.
Ice Cream.
The sampling of ice cream was commenced on May 9th, before the scare created by the outbreak
of ice-cream-borne typhoid fever in Aberystwyth. Ice cream is only one of the many articles of food
and drink which may be vehicles of infection if standards of hygiene in the manufacture, storage and
preparation for sale of such articles are low. Unfortunately, owing to the many difficulties of the present
time,standards have declined. In the general rush and scramble for such food and drink as is available
the stimulus of competition for custom no longer operates. No one sings " come where the beer is
cheaper, come where the pots hold more." and the customer is glad to accept sorry beer rather than
" Sorry ! No Beer."
Without an enlightened public opinion free to express itself by the withdrawal of custom ; good
management; and employees sufficiently interested and willing to take trouble in matters of detail,
a high standard of food hygiene will not be achieved. Legislation and inspection alone cannot do more
than ensure that the practical means for maintaining cleanliness are available. The strict observance
of the simple rules of food hygiene depends on the individual. The extent to which the public eat
away from home, in canteens, restaurants and hotels means that one source of infection may affect
a large number of people and outbreaks of food poisoning, even of a mild degree, are sufficiently
extensive to attract attention and have news value. It is good that the Press should report these
outbreaks because public appreciation of the importance of hygiene in the preparation and handling
of food will thereby be increased.