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Standards of food hygiene, while greatly improved in
recent years, still leave much to be desired in many cases.
The protection of food exposed for sale from dust and flies,
and from the hazards inherent in its preparation and handling,
will call for increased efforts by the Health Department,
as well as the food traders and housewives, too, have a twofold
duty, firstly, to insist on adequate standards of cleanliness
in food shops and in their own homes and, also, to
exercise forebearance in the unnecessary handling of food
in shops prior to purchase. The new Food Hygiene Regulations
strengthen the hand of the Local Authorities but their
successful operation will demand a staff of sanitary inspectors
adequate to the task. The present shortage of these
officers is, therefore, a very serious problem.
Cleanliness depends, ultimately, on an attitude of mind
and the development of a sense of social responsibility and
one of the results of the failure to develop the latter is the
widespread litter in our streets, parks and open spaces. It
may be considered that this is not primarily a health matter,
but its implications in regard to hygiene in general, and the
mental distress which it causes to large numbers of people in
the Urban District, justifies a reference to it in an annual
report. Adults are the worst offenders and it is not surprising,
therefore, that children should follow their example.
There is no doubt that much more could be done in the
home and in the schools to inculcate a desire to preserve
local amenities which play such a large part in promoting
the health of the community.
Among the environmental problems which remain, the
most important is, undoubtedly, the lack of adequate housing,
particularly for young married couples and for the aged,
and this in spite of great strides which have been made in
recent years by the housing authority.
Problems of atmospheric pollution are coming more and
more into the foreground and, although in this Urban District
the problem may not be so acute as it is in more industrial
areas, smoke emissions from the domestic grate add considerably
to the impurities which are discharged into the
atmosphere. Now that the Clean Air Bill has finally reached
the Statute Book, the powers of local authorities are, to some
extent, strengthened and, no doubt, the development of smokeless
zones will have to be considered in the years to come.
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