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Government Departments and the right of the Council's Inspector to have access thereto has beeil
denied. Similarly, it is not possible to make closing orders under the Housing Acts or to enforce
compliance with the Drainage Byelaws made under the Public Health Acts, where Crown properties
are concerned, even though the occupation is by private individuals claiming through the Crown.
These exemptions, which now cover an ever-widening class of persons and properties, particularly in
St. Marylebone, are undesirable and may lead to grave dangers to the public health—quite apart from
the difficulty in taking enforcement action against private firms and individuals as this apparent
partiality is likely to receive adverse comment and cause administrative embarrassment.
Being convinced that the work of its officers concerned with the maintenance of the public health is
frequently hampered or frustrated in many directions by the exemptions claimed by the bodies and
individuals mentioned, the Council asked the Metropolitan Boroughs' Standing Joint Committee to
consider (i) the advisability of making a full investigation into the extent of the real or apparent
immunity, enjoyed by Government Departments representing the Crown and by certain other
leaseholders and occupiers of Crown lands, from the strict observance of the ordinary legal requirements
of the Food and Drugs Acts, the Public Health Acts and the Housing Acts, together with ancillary
byelaws, rules and orders ; and (ii) making representations in the appropriate quarter in order to secure
a limitation of these exemptions in the interests of the public health.
Care of Old People.—Two hundred and seventy-seven old people were visited by one of the women
sanitary inspectors. Apart from 27 married couples included in the number, the great majority were
living alone and required constant observation, particularly where they were awaiting admission to
hospital. The domestic help service continued to render valuable assistance to a large number of the
aged inhabitants of the Borough.
Special Laundry Service.—From time to time difficulty and distress are caused by the inability of old
persons who are acutely ill and suffering from incontinence to get their bed linen and night-wear
washed. These cases generally arise because of the lack of sufficient hospital accommodation, the
fact that many old people who are living alone have no reserve of bed linen, and to the unwillingness
of laundries to deal with badly soiled sheets and clothing. Wherever it is possible, efforts are made
to tide over the emergency by borrowing sheets from the District Nursing Association but the laundry
problem still remains. The Council therefore decided to take advantage of section 122 of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1936, which states, inter alia, that on a report from the Medical Officer of Health
that any article in a house is in such a filthy, dangerous or unwholesome condition that health is
affected or endangered thereby, the Sanitary Authority may cause the article to be cleansed and
removed for that purpose. Special arrangements were accordingly made at the Council's Cleansing
Station to deal in appropriate cases with the bed linen, etc., of old people, and for the service to
commence to operate early in 1950.
St. Marylebone Old People's Welfare Association.—This voluntary body, established in May, 1947,
and supported by representatives of various organisations, religious bodies and statutory authorities,
carried out another useful year's work in the interests of the aged inhabitants of the Borough, and the
pooling of knowledge and experience at the monthly meetings of the Executive Committee has led to
new developments in all branches of the work. The Committee also serves as a channel of
communication with similar committees in other areas with whom information and ideas are exchanged,
and with the National Old People's Welfare Committee, which keeps the Association informed of
changes in legislation affecting old people and of the trends of thought in the country as a whole. The
Association's delegates attend the quarterly conferences of Old People's Welfare Committees in the
London Region, and the annual conference of the National Committee. Knowledge of what can be
done and what should be done has grown steadily since the Association was formed. A public meeting
was held in November, 1949, and those who attended it were surprised by the scope and variety of the
activities of the constituent organisations. It is their members who do the work ; the Executive
Committee of the St. Marylebone Old People's Welfare Association is the link between them.
One of the Association's major pre-occupations has been the need for a home for old people who can
no longer manage life alone. A beginning of modern specialised housing for old people in St.
Marylebone has been made by the St. Marylebone Housing Association and Trust, and their block of
old people's flats and converted houses may be regarded as models of their kind. Of older foundations
the Borough has two, namely, the St. Marylebone Almshouses, St. John's Wood Terrace, and the
Christian Union Almshouses, Crawford Place. But all these are for the able-bodied elderly. There
are also the Ladies' Home in Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, the special ward for old men established
by the Church Army in Marylebone Road, and the Home for Old People maintained by the Swedish
Church in Enford Street. These last, however, are not limited to the aged of St. Marylebone. The
need for a home for them is acute. The Association spent nearly two years trying to find suitable
premises and, when they had found them, trying to raise the necessary finance. Finally, it was