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14
PROVISION OF MEALS.
320,148 meals were supplied in 1938 as compared with 283,367 in 1937, 260,822 in 1936, 249,509
in 1935, 241,905 in 1934, 197,338 in 1933, 197,821 in 1932 and 138,361 in 1931.
The recipients of these meals are mainly children of the unemployed, widows and deserted
wives.
HOME NURSING SERVICE.
The Home Nurse employed by the Council nursed 448 cases during the year, and in connection
with such cases paid 4,177 visits. 1,783 of these visits were paid in the Carlton Ward, 846 in
the Kilburn Ward, 451 in the Mapesbury Ward, 216 in the Roundwood Ward, 203 in the Willesden
Green Ward, and smaller numbers in the other wards of Willesden.
Of the 448 cases nursed during the year, 433 were new cases. 373 of these 433 new cases were
referred by the Health Department for nursing, 25 by private doctors and 35 by Hospitals, Associations
and private persons.
Ophthalmia neonatorum received 133 visits and other ophthalmia cases 494 visits.
SANITARY WORK.
The approximate number of houses in Willesden at the end of 1938 was 34,322, smaller flats
contained under one roof being counted as one house, larger flats in blocks being counted separately.
During the year the total number of inspections and re-inspections made by the Sanitary
Staff was 35,575 as compared with 26,176 in 1937.
The houses inspected under the Housing Acts numbered 1,514 as compared with 1,265 in 1937.
The number of complaints received were 3,140 as compared with 2,695 in 1937.
The total number of Notices issued and nuisances abated were 6,558 and 35,786, respectively.
Work done under the Housing Acts is shown in the tabular statement in the body of the Report.
Housing.—The Health Department ever since the passing of the Public Health Act, 1875,
has been concerned with the housing conditions of the people. The work of the Department has
from time to time been extended by the various Housing Acts which have been passed, beginning
with the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1885, and ending at present with the Housing Act of 1936.
Many complaints reach the Department as to nuisances in connection with dwelling houses
and these complaints generally are dealt with under the nuisance sections of the Public Health Act,
1936. The work is carried out in the vast majority of cases by an intimation notice served by the
sanitary inspector and recourse to legal proceedings is only required in relatively few instances.
The main work, however, of the Department relative to housing, comes under the Housing
Acts. Under the Housing Consolidated Regulations, 1925 and 1932, the Department is enjoined to
make regular routine inspections of the houses in the Borough. This has been carried on now for a
number of years and the average number of houses which have been inspected per annum during the
past ten years is approximately 1,200. As a result of these inspections the necessary work to make the
houses fit for human habitation is carried out by notice served by the Department. Again the great
majority of such notices are complied with, legal proceedings as a rule being unnecessary.
Clearance—The re-housing of the families displaced by the various Clearance and Compulsory
Purchase Orders has proceeded as the new flats and houses became ready for occupation, and
practically all the houses in the areas concerned have been vacated. For various reasons many of
the families have not accepted the accommodation offered and the surplus houses built in connection
with the slum clearance scheme are being allotted to families outside clearance areas who are overcrowded.
It is the adopted practice of the Council to disinfest the furniture and bedding of all families
leaving privately-owned dwellings for Council houses. The furniture is treated with hydro-cyanide
and the bedding steam disinfected.