View report page

22
3. Social Conditions.
(a) Social Services.
Your Social Services cover a very wide field and
are extensively used by the public, which in itself
gives a true indication of their popularity, necessity
and efficiency.
(b) Asbestosis.
Those who in this way or in that have been forced
to take an interest in the tragic incidence of asbestosis
in Barking may wish to refresh their memories of what
was done in the Town during the years 1928-1930 by
reference to my earlier Annual Reports.
For the purposes of this Annual Report, I would
wish to quote only from my Annual Report for 1930.
On page 19 of this Report I wrote as follows:—
“It is not unreasonable to suppose that for the
next fifteen years we shall be getting deaths from
asbestosis amongst those people whose lungs are
already affected.”
The fifteen years which in 1930 I thought would
see the tragic end of so many of these then affected
people have come and gone and we still have deaths
in Barking from Asbestosis.
I can well believe that some of the deaths occurring
today are due to the inhalation of asbestos dust more
than 15 years ago, but my records are not sufficient for
me to say whether some of the deaths occurring today
are not due to or aggravated by the inhalation of dust
during the past 15 years. In this connection, I am
tempted to quote from another Annual Report, to wit
my Report for 1929, where on page 64, I wrote as
follows:—