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37
In accordance with Section 49 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1981, conmunications
were received from the Metropolitan Water Board as to water supplies
being cut off in respect to 40 premises as compared with 80 in 1911, 82 in 1910,
83 in 1909, 65 in 1908 and 113 in 1907. Of these 26 were in the New River District
and 14 in the East London. The grounds for cutting the water off were as follows :
on account of defective water pipes in 6 instances, premises being demolished in
12, waste on empty premises 6, on unoccupied premises 12, by request of the consumer
1, and in 3 instances for arrears in the rate.
There were no complaints received as to the quality of the water supplied
in the Borough, nor was there any reason for suspecting the occurrence of any
illness due to the water.
In accordance with the requirements of Section 78 of the London County
Council (General Powers) Act, 1907, additional water taps were provided at 83
dwelling-houses occupied by members of more than one family. In most instances
the water was supplied to one of the floors above the ground floor. In a few instances
taps were provided on more than one floor. Sinks were provided as well, but,
there is no statutory authority under the Act for insisting on these. It was not
necessary this year to take any legal proceedings to secure effect being given to
the requirements above referred to.
SANITARY WORK.
Intimation notices under the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, as to insanitary
conditions were served in respect to 3,887 premises. In 581 instances the
premises were dealt with under the supervision of Inspector Firth, in 525 under
Inspector Jordan, 455 Inspector Langstone, 555 Inspector Pearson, 973 Inspector
Stokes, 678 Inspector Wright, 43 Inspector Pratt and 77 under the supervision
of Inspector Chapman. The two last named were newly appointed and commenced
work in the Borough as inspectors at the beginning of December. In connection
with the work arising out of the sanitary notices served, some 943 letters were
sent to owners of property, builders, and others concerned.
Some 34,266 visits of inspection were made by the sanitary inspectors during
the year. The premises under inspection included dwelling houses, artisans'
dwellings, houses let in lodgings, outworkers premises, factories, workshops,
laundries and bakehouses under the Factory and Workshops Act, cowsheds and
milk vendors premises, ice cream shops, slaughter houses, and places where food
is prepared and sold. Towards the end of the year some special house to house
inspections were made, and a large number of visits were made to houses brought
to our notice by the school authorities as being the residences of children who had
been reported as being in a verminous state. The latter are specially referred to
later in this report (page 41).