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dangerous. The greatest danger is from the lack of cleanliness of
food handlers. Some practical advice on the avoidance of food
contamination is to be found on pages 32 and 33.
The Winter of 1952—53.
It would be difficult to imagine a winter so uniformly depressing
and unhealthy as the last. Fog, influenza and floods killed and
incapacitated the population to an alarming degree. The five-day
fog of last December was one of the worst within living memory,
and some idea of the havoc it caused may be obtained by consulting
pages 52 to 58. The prevention of atmospheric pollution, and the
reduction in the smoke pall overhanging our cities, is one of the
most urgent public health problems of today ; and it is to be hoped
that those who are still inclined to regard the so-called " London
Particular " as a temporary but unavoidable inconvenience will
at least be able to read page 57.
Sanitary Circumstances.
A special report by the Senior Sanitary Inspector (pages 66
to 68) deals with the relative responsibilities and activities of the
Council and of householders in the prevention of pests. Reference
is made to the methods employed to control rodents, and to the
work carried out during the year.
Nothing contributes more to human health and happiness
than adequate housing. For almost a decade the war interrupted
the building of new houses and the repair of old ones, and added
a further burden by the destruction of houses on a large scale by
enemy action. The consequent acute shortage of houses has been
rendered even more acute by the progressive increase in the number
of families per thousand of the population. Nowadays young
people are marrying at an earlier age than their parents, although
their chance of obtaining a home of their own is so much less.
There has been no increase, but rather a decrease, in overcrowding ;
and an acute shortage of family units of accommodation. Many
more, but much smaller, families are clamouring for houses of
their own. Forty per cent. of households in Leyton are in shared
dwellings, where they are subject to the acute irritations and
worries, and to the more chronic nervous strain and grief, of those
who cannot call their house their own. As with human beings,
houses deteriorate with age, and have a definite expectation of
useful life beyond which they become an economic and social
liability. Even in normal times a vigorous programme of new
building and re-housing is required merely to keep pace with
expected obsolescence and dilapidation of dwellings ; and a number