View report page

38
(a) Weights and measures;
(b) Diseases of Animals Acts;
(c) Petroleum inspection and licensing;
(d) Sampling officers' duties under the Food and
Drugs Act;
(e) Licensing and inspection of hackney carriages;
(f) The Welfare and Health work under the Shops
Act;
all of which could be expeditiously performed by the officers
of a local authority, particularly the Public Health Inspector.
This anomaly of utilising police officers for local
authorities is the direct result of the transfer of the truly
local authority functions from the Justices of the Peace who
had previously dealt with local affairs both judicial and local.
Many Royal Commissions and Parliamentary Committees
have stated that the police should not be used for
health purposes- neither for that matter ought they to be
used in the modern systems of health and social welfare,
especially as they are in such short supply.
It may be suggested that the police form a local
authority service, but strictly speaking it is a national service
which ought to be paid for by the nation to safeguard the
general public against breaches of the criminal law. All
other duties ought to be transferred from the "Watch Committees"
to the "Sanitary Authorities", with of course a
grant increase equal to that formerly paid for the police
officer, e.g. fifty per cent of the cost. "
(i) WATER SUPPLY.- The district is served by the
Metropolitan Water Board and South Essex Waterworks Co.
The subject of the water supply of the Borough was dealt
with at length in the Report for 1945.
Dr. E. Windle Taylor, Director of Water Examination
of the Metropolitan Water Board, has kindly supplied
me with the following information.
"Samples of the water at all stages of purification
are submitted to chemical and bacteriological examination
daily in the Laboratories.
The part of Ilford in the area of the Board is supplied
with water derived from the River Lee, filtered and