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MEDICAL OFFICER'S ANNUAL RFPORT SHEET 16 OF DRAFT.
Tents, Vans, Sheds, etc.
Only one instance of van-dwellers having encamped in the district
has been noted by the Sanitary Inspector in the past five years.
Fifteen to twenty years ago these van and tent dwellers were
frequently observed in this district and gave rise to considerable
nuisance from the dirty and untidy condition in which they left their
camping grounds.
I attach the Housing statistics in tabular form and in the order
suggested in Circular 648 amongst the other tables at the end of this
report.
INSPECTION & SUPERVISION OF FOOD.
This has received due attention from your Sanitary Inspector
who regularly inspects the premises where food is prepared or offered for
sale.
There are three cookshops in the district all clean and well
conducted.
Bread.
There are five bakehouses in the district one of which is entirely
underground, they are all on old premises and not up to the standard of
modern requirements, but have been made as fit as possible. Forty years
ago it seemed that any situation was good enough for a bakehouse.
Two are situated at the rear of the bakers shops in close
proximity to stables and two are situated in yards attached to the shops.
Under these conditions it is practically Impossible to keep the
floors as clean as they should be on account of the continued walking to
and fro from shop to bakehouse over an open space. There is a considerable
amount of bread sold and delivered to the consumer by the milksellers.
This bread is not made in the District and is very liable to be
soiled in course of delivery and it is quite a common experience to find
bread left on the doorstep or window sill uncovered and unprotected.
I am pleased to note that several of the large bakeries now supply
their bread "wrapped" and the consumer would greatly benefit if this
practice was universal.
Meat.
There are 14 butchers shops in the District and the majority draw
their supplies from the London Markets. Generally the meat exposed for
sale is of good quality but with meat as with bread and other food
stuffs it is too much exposed to contamination by dust dirt and flies
during its passage from producer to consumer.
I am pleased to report that there are no street stalls in the
district where meat is exposed and that all the butchers shops have
glazed windows and that the proprietors endeavour to protect their
meat to a certain extent, but the custom of selling from the street
side of the window still continues and until the purchaser declines
to accept meat from tradesmen following this practice one of the
principal sources of contamination will remain.
It is this surface contamination not noticeable to the eye and
nose that produces that taint in meat that so often develops after the
housewife has bought the joint, and which she tries to remove by washing
in vinegar and water and similar practices. These expedients may
remove the taint or lessen its immediate manifestation, but the taint
is due to the growth of numerous germs and moulds, fortunately not all
harmful, but nevertheless some of those germs or toxin products are