London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Finchley 1908
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Finchley]
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the requirements of your Council. In fact most of the
sanitary defects have been remedied without the necessity of
serving statutory notices. As hitherto, all possible assistance
has been afforded to owners when carrying out improvements,
and, in a large number of cases, as a result of recommendations
made by your inspectors, the standard of work executed
has been much higher than that which could be strictly
enforced under the provisions of the Public Health Acts.
The following is a summary of the inspections made during the year:—
| House to House Inspections | 338 |
| Special Inspections | 1038 |
| Re-Inspections | 1698 |
| Visits to Works in Progress | 1700 |
| ,, ,, Factories and Workshops (including Bakehouses) | 297 |
| ,, ,, Slaughterhouses | 243 |
| ,, ,, Cowsheds, Dairies and Milkshops | 146 |
| ,, ,, Ice Cream Premises | 46 |
| ,, ,, Foodshops | 169 |
| ,, ,, Infectious disease | 1112 |
| Miscellaneous Visits | 272 |
| Total number of Inspections and Re-Inspections | 7059 |
House Drainage,
Previous to the passing of the Finchley Urban District
Council Act, 1908, any person who repaired a drain was not
required by law to give notice to the local authority of his
intention to carry out such repair. This fact, together with
the somewhat prevalent idea that any unskilled labourer was
capable of altering or repairing a drain, often led to most