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ciated the magnitude and ramifications of the task which lies before
us, and that it has given the staff unstinted and continuous
encouragement in their efforts. This encouragement has been of
great help to the staff of the Public Health Department. We have
always known that we have had the Committee behind us, and that
any measure we ventured to suggest would receive full and sympathetic
consideration.
Before concluding this introduction, there is one other topic
which I should like particularly to mention. This concerns research
and investigation. A great deal has been talked and written of late
about the work which can be carried out by Public Health Departments
in the field of research. No one will deny that research
is vitally important to progress; no one will deny that much valuable
information has been gleaned by workers in comparatively restricted
fields of public health. The difficulties which beset the Public
Health Department of a Borough such as Southgate under existing
conditions do not always seem to be so clearly appreciated. The
National Health Service has scarcely recovered from its birth pangs,
let alone its teething troubles. Too often, we cannot quite see the
wood for the trees. Also, although many functions have been
removed from Borough Councils, depleted Public Health Department
staffs are still finding it difficult to cope adequately with the
duties which remain. I should personally like very much to be
able to devote sufficient time to research in the field of environmental
hygiene and epidemiology, with the co-operation of those
members of the Public Health Department staff who are well
qualified to help. The time may come, one hopes that it will come,
when this will be possible. In the meantime, we continue our
routine duties, collecting data and information which may be of
very great use in the future.
Altogether, as I have tried to indicate, this is not a particularly
easy time for the staff of a Public Health Department. Transitional
periods never are; this is no exception. We appreciate, however,
that we must accept the situation as it is. Knocking one's head
against a brick wall is neither a pleasant nor a profitable pastime.
We know only too well what could and should be done, and await
the day with patience if limited optimism, when the fundamentally
important part to be played by environmental hygiene will be
fully appreciated.
I should like once again to express my very sincere thanks
to the members of the Borough Council, and especially to the
members of the Public Health Committee, for their support, support
to which I have already alluded. I should also like to thank the
staff of the Public Health Department who, as always, have contributed
loyally to the work of the Department. In this connection
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