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although perhaps less than in the majority of districts of comparable
size, is still greater than would have been tolerated before the war.
Equally although the number of houses which would have been
scheduled for demolition in more normal times is certainly not
great, we again have to accept conditions as they are today and
temporise with a practical policy which does not make excessive
or unreasonable demands upon the housing situation. No Medical
Officer of Health, especially one who has worked in a district as
long as I have in Southgate, can accept such a situation with
equanimity. A counsel of perfection may be a Utopian dream, yet
it still remains the goal, however distant, to which we must aspire.
I need scarcely point out that the Public Health Department staff,
especially the Sanitary Inspectors, are doing their very best under
difficult conditions, to safeguard the health of the community.
The fact that difficulties seem to increase year by year, as problems
become more acute, has in no way daunted their enthusiasm.
Indeed, it has spurred them to greater efforts, since we all realise
only too well how much the future may depend upon our present
vigilance.
As I mentioned in the Annual Report for 1949, the results of
the Public Health activities still left with Borough Councils are
never so immediately apparent as is the case with the personal
health services, except insofar as the control of infectious disease
is concerned. None the less, it has become more and more obvious
that neglect of the environmental health services strikes at the very
roots of public welfare. It is surely illogical to provide a complete
and costly service for attending to mothers, infants and school
children while still permitting the continuance of conditions in the
home, the place of work, and even in the school which prejudice
health. It is even more illogical to spend vast sums of money
in attempting to cure conditions which might never have occurred
if the basic principles of preventive medicine had been allowed to
operate. It might be too much to say that every patient admitted
to hospital represents an individual breakdown in the public health
system. Even if this is an exaggeration, it remains a fact that
too much time and money are being expended on patching up
instead of providing sound adequate safeguards.
For all those reasons, the public health activities of the
Borough Council are of truly vital significance. We have all-toolittle
control over those aspects of preventive and curative medicine
sponsored by other authorities. Time may effect improvement in
this direction, but meantime, it is essential that we continue our
present efforts to safeguard the future health of the Borough by
such means as remain at our disposal.
It has been a source of considerable personal satisfaction to
me to realise that the Public Health Committee has always
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