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occupants is one of great difficulty. Frequently they are
occupied by old persons living on their old age pension and
the transfer to a more hygienic new house or flat is often
overshadowed by the fear of higher rents and the possible
reduction of expenditure on food and other essentials although
help from the National Assistance Board may well offset the
greater part of any additional expenditure.
The Food and Drugs (Amendment) Bill at present before
Parliament may also place further responsibilities on the
Health Department in that it foreshadows the extension of
registration to classes of premises not covered at present by
Section 14 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1938.
The Bexley, Erith and Crayford Clean Food Guild has
continued its work during the year and at present 112 plaques
have been awarded. The co-operation of many of the multiple
firms has been obtained and this long term essay in health
education, stimulated perhaps by the impending Food and
Drugs (Amendment) Act will help to provide that higher
standard of food hygiene which we all desire. During the
year a Clean Food Week was held which culminated in an
address and demonstration by the Deputy Medical Director
of the Central Council for Health Education and was followed
by a film show and discussion.
The newly formed Bexley, Erith and Crayford Home
Safety Committee promises to become an active instrument for
the reduction of accidents in the home and is, in fact, complementary
in its function to the Bexley, Erith and Crayford
Road Safety Committee. The Minister of Housing and Local
Government has given his approval to the making of a grant
by each of the constituent authorities so that the Committee
has, financially speaking, got off to a flying start. The collection
of reliable statistics of home accidents is proceeding
favourably and in the near future activities will be undertaken
to draw the attention of the public, by propaganda methods,
to the preventable nature of home accidents which, as is now
well known, greatly exceed the number of accidents on the
roads.
The serious flooding which occurred on the 31st January,
raised many health problems entailing supervision and I set
out below a list of some of the duties undertaken by the Department:—
1. Medical supervision of Rest Centres, i.e., supervision
of the health of individual persons and the removal