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Sanitary work had to contend with increasing difficulties as a
result of the position in regard to labour and materials. Nowhere
were these restrictions so acutely felt as in the maintainence of a
reasonable standard of fitness of domestic dwellings. Much had to
be left undone; and housing repair notices had to be modified to exclude
all items except the most urgent repair necessities. Provision
exists, certainly, for such essential work to receive priority, but the
procedure and formalities involve an enormous loss of time. Overcrowding
and the evils that flow from it remain our chief health
problem. The scope for the relief of this situation by the provision
of additional dwellings within the Urban District is very limited.
Unless our open spaces are to be sacrificed to the prejudice of public
health in the future, it will be necessary to rehouse most of our unaccommodated
families outside the area.
The opportunities for the exploitation of the scarcity of food
supplies still remain in a marked degree, and the Ministry of Food
has made many orders in a praiseworthy effort to curb the unscrupulous
and prevent the more blatant abuses. The intricacies of
these regulations, which to be effective must be in precise and detailed
form, are creating much additional administrative work for
the department, and for the food inspectors in particular. There
seems little doubt that legislation of this nature will in future assume
a much more prominent place in local public health service. Milk
because of its particular vulnerability as a vehicle for the spread of
disease, has always received more legislative attention than any other
commodity. In the last and recent years it has become increasingly
difficult to maintain the standards which have been set, and a high
proportion of the samples of pasteurized milk taken during the year
failed to fulfil the prescribed tests. Difficulties of plant and labour
were advanced in explanation, and no doubt do exist, but it is to be
hoped that these defects will soon be remedied. Restriction of the
consumer's choice of retailer must carry with it the obligation to
provide a safe milk.
An eminent public health administrator once said, " only an
educated people can be healthy." The truth of this assertion is being
increasingly borne upon us. More and more evidence accumulates
that the health of the community rests, not so much on restrictive
legislation as upon the personal behaviour of each and every member,
and that in the ultimate the public well-being is a matter of individual
responsibility and conscience. Legislation cannot ensure that the
typhoid carrier washes his hands on every necessary occasion, nor
can regulations prevent a selfish parent sending her ailing child to
a nursery knowing it to have been in close contact with measles.
Where better could education in this direction be instilled than in
the schools ? Simple hygiene and health conduct are subjects deserving
of a place in the school curriculum.
A word of thanks, in conclusion, to all the members of my department.
Another difficult year has been successfully negotiated with
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