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10
made local national effort necessary in many other forms, and prevented sufficient
use being made of the facilities offered by the class. This has now been abandoned
but it is hoped that if and when things become more normal it will be possible again
to arrange for young men the facilities which are now available for young women.
The housing and sanitary work of the department was reorganised during the
year. I made a special report to the Committee setting out the principles to be
considered and shortly afterwards a new senior sanitary inspector was appointed
owing to the resignation through ill health of Mr. Wright. Many alterations were
made in the methods of inspection and in the office work generally, and a glance at
sections IX and X of this report will indicate the considerable increase in the work
done. What is not so obvious however from the report is that quality is increasing
as well as quantity, but time and an intimate knowledge of the district will, I think,
show that the new foundations are sound.
An interesting fact shown by the housing survey which was carried out during
the year and which is reported in detail in section X is the large decrease in overcrowding
as compared with the figures shown in the survey of 1935. In Shoreditch
it appears that overcrowding has been almost halved during that period, the actual
number of "persons" overcrowded having been reduced from about 19,000 to
10,000 and the number of families overcrowded from 3,800 to 2,000. Results in
comparable metropolitan boroughs indicate that a similar decrease is occurring
elsewhere and this decrease cannot but be of great benefit to public and individual
health by lessening the considerable congestion which had previously been present.
During the year the only major statute which was passed affecting public
health work was the Food and Drugs Act, 1938. This is a further step in the
codification of public health law and although it is mostly a consolidating act it is
also in small part an amending act. It comes into force on 1st October, 1939.
Among minor enactments which may be noted is No. 1100 of Statutory Rules and
Orders—County of London (Measles and Whooping Cough) Regulations, 1938.
These regulations make whooping cough compulsorily notifiable for the first time
and also extend the number of cases in which measles is notifiable.
The report which follows covers the outlines suggested by the Ministry of Health.