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17
SANITARY ADMINISTRATION.
ANNUAL REPORT
of
THE SANITARY INSPECTOR
1944
Public Health Department,
Municipal Offices,
New Malden.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the pleasure to submit my twenty-fifth Annual
Report of work accomplished and matters of interest concerning;
the sanitary department. This again must, necessarily,
be curtailed in view of the existing circumstances.
The year will remain in my memory as the most difficult
in my experience. Quite early on the Medical Officer
of Health, my deputy and myself all had to go into hospital
in succession to undergo operations. At the same time
Mr. Elliott was away sick. His illness lasted for more than
six months and, to my great regret, had a fatal termination.
This meant that the department, already understaffed
and with many extraordinary duties to perform
had to carry on as best could be. The situation was
eased somewhat by the release of Mr. Mitchell from the
Royal Air Force and he returned to duty in April. I
should also like to acknowledge the assistance he gave
before his release whilst on leave.
In June the flving-bomb attacks commenced and for
the following three or four months work had to go on
almost incessantly, day and night. Routine matters, to a
large extent, had to be placed in abeyance. The extensive
damage done to house property in the district by these
attacks meant that war damage repairs necessarily took
priority over others and, consequently, ordinary repairs
had to be limited to those of an urgent character.