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To the Chairman and Members of
The Wanstead Urban District Council.
Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for the year
1925, and I include in it a summary of the work done by the
Sanitary and Food Inspector, and by the Health Visitor.
The Minister of Health desires that my report for 1925 should
be a survey report and should refer to any special matters which
have occurred in the past five years. Complete details for that period
are to be found in the Statistical Tables at the end of this report,
and I cannot say that there is anything very striking to which to
draw your attention.
One matter which is not referred to in my report is the condition
of the lake in front of Overton Drive, known as "The Basin,"
which gave rise to complaint in the Autumn of 1925. This lake
had been, famous as a fishpond for years, when suddenly at the time
mentioned hundreds of fish of many varieties, including shell fish,
began to die. Fishermen and others interested had the water
analysed without any cause being found for the fish mortality, and
the District Council were subsequently approached and their aid
enlisted. Professor Wilfred Rushton, biologist and fish expert, was
engaged to give his advice. He made post-mortem examinations
of various fish and made other investigations, and he favoured the
view that changes in the composition of the water supplied by springs
in the lake were responsible. Unfortunately, he could suggest no
practical remedy, and I fear that there are now no fish surviving.
The vexed question of the population of the District still, in
my opinion, requires adjustment.
The Registrar-General's estimation is 15,880, an increase of
500 over the previous year, and a net total, since the census was
taken in 1921, of 583. During that period, however, local considerations
do not appear to have counted largely.
The Convent of the Good Shepherd, formerly known as the Royal
Seamen's Orphanage, was vacant at the time of the census, and has
now about 320 inmates. Births have exceeded deaths by 285.
Upwards of 550 new houses have come into occupation, with a probable
average of four inmates per house.
These facts would lead to the conclusion that our population is
about 17,600, less the number who have emigrated