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could not be found in time to avoid the necessity of the work of improving
those slaughterhouses which were being used being done by the agreed
date of January 1st, 1962. It is hoped though that in spite of the delay
this will be the solution, and that it will be possible to discontinue the use
of the existing slaughterhouses which, however high their standards might
be, must be an undesirable feature in the localities they are in.
The publicity given to the coming into force of the Noise Abatement
Act has led people to believe that local authorities have much greater
powers to stop nuisances of the kind to which they object, than in fact they
have. The powers are not all that much different from those which have
been in force in this district under Section 313 of the Middlesex County
Council Act 1944. If only because of the creation of some noises such as those
by aircraft which are a real nuisance to those in the neighbourhood, it is
certain that increased attention will be given to this subject and those of
the Public Health Department will be approached about other less damaging
noises. It will be of interest to see to what extent action by the Public
Health Department of local authorities will become the accepted means of
abating noise nuisances which no one claims are causing the injury or
danger to health referred to in the Middlesex County Council Act, could be
classed as.
There were further developments during the year in the services for
the aged. Some of the various forms of help now available to the elderly
are in their nature preventive services; others are for the assistance of those
really in need and are more in the nature of palliative services. In the
public health field, the endeavour is always, by the application of preventive
measures, to hold back the rising tide of disability and so avoid the
breakdown which leads to the need for in-patient or out-patient treatment.
Much of what is being done for the aged is comparable to the provision
of a treatment service of the health arrangements which are designed to
help those who have broken down. These services are very necessary for
those individual old people and for as long as the need is there, it is to be
hoped that they will be continued and if necessary expanded. On the
other hand though, the really important service is the one which will prevent
these people ever reaching that stage, or at least postponing that time as long
as possible. The organisation which can provide this must be sufficiently
large that it can deal with the day-to-day patch-work affairs and yet
maintain the other most important preventive service.
In October 1960 the Royal Commission on the Local Government
of Greater London submitted their recommendations. Last year the
Government endorsed the proposals of the Commission that the borough
should in future be the primary unit of local government for the Greater
London area and suggested it would be desirable to aim at a minimum
population of around 200,000. Towards the end of the year they submitted
a suggestion on how the area might be divided into boroughs ol
this size; in this Harrow is the only district, except for the City of London,
which these proposals leave as it stands, with no additions or subtractions.
Everyone can look forward to the day, in some three years' time, when the