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TOWN HALL, BARKING,
ESSEX.
March, 1955.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Barking.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my first annual report as your
Medical Officer of Health.
Dr. C. L. Williams officially retired on the 15th January, 1953,
although he remained until I took up my duties on the 7th April.
You have, I believe, already expressed to him your appreciation for
the services carried out during his twenty-five year ten re of office,
during which time such outstanding clinic services were developed in
the town.
An Annual Report should appear as soon as possible after the
end of the year to which it relates, and in this respect my first report
falls far short of the desirable. In mitigation I can only plead that since
1953 was the centenary of public health in Barking, he occasion
demanded a brief historical review of the development of our services
I also thought it prudent to pause for a "stocktaking" on assuming
my new duties.
In the first fifty years of the public health service, efforts were
concentrated on man's environment. As a result, we now have pure
water supplies, good (though sometimes overloaded) sewage disposal
systems, reasonably clean food, and increasing standards of housing.
though little has yet been done to achieve clean air. In the second
half century of Public Health attention was directed at high maternal
and infant mortality rates and personal health. The clinic services
were steadily developed, with the gratifying results which are well
known to you.
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