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27
Report of the
Chief Sanitary Inspector
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present to you my Thirteenth
Annual Report on the work carried out by your Sanitary
Inspectors during the year 1931 in connection with the
various Statutes and Bye-laws relating to Public Health in
force within the Borough.
The total number of inspections made during the year
was 8,133, as compared with 7,312 during the year 1930.
On 533 premises sanitary defects to the number of
5,573 were discovered. Arising out of these defects, it was
found necessary to serve 463 "preliminary" and 8 "verbal"
notices. In 56 instances the informal action did not have
the desired effect, and it was necessary to serve "statutory"
notices.
During the year under review, 578 fresh entries were
added to the Register of Sanitary Defects. In 572 cases
entries were cancelled following completion of necessary
works. On December 31st, 1931, 341 separate entries
remained under review, compared with 335 at the end of
1930.
The increase in the number of inspections is due to the
second additional Inspector, whose assistance became available
during the year.
In accordance with the policy of your Public Health
Committee, work under the Housing Acts was considerably
extended during the year, and 177 inspections were made
under the Housing Consolidated Regulations, 1925, as compared
with 28 during the previous year. The bare statement
of the increased number of inspections is not fully
indicative of the work involved by the change of procedure.
An ordinary inspection of a house, following a complaint
or a case of infectious disease, can usually be carried
out in about 25 per cent, of the time which a housing
inspection of similar property would take. The reason is