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fectious Disease (Prevention) Act, 1890, and sections 19,
21, 22, 23, 25, 31, 33 and 51 of the Public Health Acts
Amendment Act, 1907, are in force in the district.
There is also a new " Erith Improvement Act,
1920," embodying clauses giving more power to the
Council in various matters relating to Public Health.
(4) Chemical and Bacteriological Work.
No Laboratory is attached to the Public Health
Department, but the County Laboratory at Maidstone
carries out any necessary Bacteriological Examinations
Under present arrangements each medical man practising
in the district is supplied by the County Medical Officer
with the requisite apparatus for taking swabs or
blood, and when taken these are forwarded to the Laboratory
at Maidstone for examination. Reports on the
results found are forwarded to the medical man concerned,
and also to myself as Medical Officer of Health,
and at the same time fresh apparatus is sent to the medical
man to replace the one used.
G.—Housing.
(i) General Housing Conditions in the District.
The majority of the houses in the district are cottages
containing G or 7 rooms, some built in terraces,
some in flats of two stories, others detached or semidetached.
A large number of these were built about 1900 in
accordance with the bye-laws of the Council, and these
have ample air space, both in front and at the back.
Some of the older houses, however, are somewhat
cramped at the back.
At the Census of 1911 there were 5,129 inhabited
houses, and 507 empty, a total of 5,636. During the
years following the Census before the outbreak of war
about 40 or 50 houses were erected, so that at the outbreak
of war there were about 5,680 houses in the district.
During the 4 years 1915-1918 only 12 hotises were
built.