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trouble; there is no need for people to do away with birds which
have become family pets of long standing.
(b) Rheumatic Affections.—Barking was chosen, so I am given
to understand, to be the site of the Abbey which has made it famous
by reason of the fact that it was reasonably secure from hostile
attack, because it was then surrounded by marshes. This low lying
site, which was an advantage in the far off days of hostile incursions,
is now of course a disadvantage, and Barking suffers from rheumatic
affections, like many other places in the Thames valley.
We cannot make Barking any higher than it is, but people can,
by careful attention to diet, increase their resistance to the microbes
provoking rheumatism, and particularly in children by keeping
the nose and throat healthy they can prevent the entry of these
microbes into the body.
This matter is discussed in my Annual Report on the School
Medical Services in this area, both for this year and for last year.
(c) Transport.—The conditions of transport to and from
Barking are still much to be deplored.
Many pioneers are now renowned for undergoing hardships
and difficulties of travel hardly worse than those met heroically
day after day by the people of Barking. Some improvement has,
I believe, been made in the number of electric trains coming in and
out of Barking, but any such increase does not appear materially
to have improved the situation, owing probably to an increase in
the number of the travelling public, consequent on the development
of the Becontree Estate.
I look upon this as a very serious matter, and am surprised that
the public have tolerated the present conditions so long as they
have.
(d) Asbestosis.—The passing of the Workmen's Compensation
(Silicosis and Asbestosis) Act, 1930, should in time do much to
mitigate the lung trouble from which many persons in Barking