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authorities which have a 'Health and Housing Committee,' where
matters appertaining to housing as a major problem are dealt with
by the Health Committee, are in some respects adopting a wholly
logical attitude. As the Council will be aware, a good deal of the
time of my Inspectors is taken up, not only in dealing with housing
queries, e.g. overcrowding, the need for council housing because
of the existence of conditions detrimental to the health of one
or more members of the family, etc., but also with the abatement
of nuisances, most often by the issue of informal notices and
occasionally but never by choice, by having to resort to the issuing
of statutory notices, sometimes followed by Court procedure. The
Public Health Department considers this to be an integral part
of its duty, since problems associated with housing remain at the
root of so many social evils.
It is specially pleasing to see the work which is being carried
out in Southgate in relation to the erection of new houses and
flatlets, especially when this accommodation is being made
available for tenants displaced from slum clearance areas. Although
in 1934, a white paper described Southgate as a 'White Area'
because of the very small amount of overcrowding present within
the Borough, I doubt whether this fact would still hold good.
One must admit and be extremely thankful for the fact that over'
crowding is still not a serious problem in Southgate. None the less,
when I remember Southgate as it was in 1931 when I took up
my position as Medical Officer of Health, and when I compare
the position then with the position as it is today, one has no
reason to be complacent. In 1931 it was extremely rare to find
houses in multiple occupation: nowadays, roads where one would
have been literally amazed to find this happening are literally
full of houses occupied by two and sometimes three families. This
may be inevitable, but it is none the less unfortunate. Even more
unfortunate is the fact that the remedy is extremely hard to find.
It is truly pleasant to be able to report that Southgate has
taken energetic steps to deal with housing for the elderly, a problem
which is increasing in intensity year by year. This age group of
the population has been neglected for too long. Still more work is
required but it is obvious that Southgate appreciates the situation
—indeed, with a problem such as ours it must do—and means to
do what it can to effect amelioration.
I cannot let this opportunity pass without reminding the
Council that the work which has fallen to the lot of Public Health
Inspectors is increasing with a rhythm which is sometimes frightening.
Smoke control—and a great deal of work has been done in
this field in Southgate—food inspection, food hygiene and housing
itself have all either presented new problems or problems which
have been considerably magnified. I count myself extremely
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