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Road. This service continued until 1948, when it was handed over to
the County Council under the provisions of the National Health Service
Act, 1946.
It should be mentioned that your Medical Officer was responsible for
bringing into public use in 1940, the swimming bath at the Royal Female
Orphanage, Beddington, which was evacuated in 1939. The Department
continued after the war to keep the bath in use for schoolchildren, youth
organisations and the general public until 1959, when difficulties in
recruiting adequate labour to maintain the bath made it impossible for
the Public Health Department to continue this service.
Future years will show many changes in the development of public
health in this party of Surrey. One can only hope that the foundations so
well laid since 1915 will be maintained by future administrations and that
the people of Beddington and Wallington will continue to enjoy the
excellent health and expectation of life, which statistical summaries of
the last few years have illustrated.
One aspect of post-war development in the prevention of disease has
been the energetic pursuit of methods of improving food hygiene. This
has entailed the submission of very many more samples of raw and cooked
food, milk and other comestibles for both chemical and bacteriological
analyses.
in addition, the regular chemical and bacteriological analysis of water
has been undertaken. In 1937 when your Medical Officer first took up
his appointment, the necessity for routine water examinations was only
just being appreciated, following the outbreak of intestinal disease
associated with polluted water supply in the district in 1936. One of the
first re-organisations your Medical Officer achieved was the introduction
of a laboratory at the Town Hall, where he himself conducted the bacteriological
examinations of samples of water and milk with the help of a
trained laboratory assistant.
After the war, with the increasing cost of chemical materials and the
rate of pay demanded by trained laboratory assistants, the Corporation
felt obliged on economic grounds to transfer this work to the Public Health
Laboratory Service. On page 29 will be found a report on the analyses
carried out in 1961.
I wish to thank all past and present members of the Department, who
have worked to make success possible. Particular mention should be
made of the Chief Clerk of the Department, Mr. Robert F. Burns, who
has been with us since 1938. Mr. Burns has an excellent record of long
and efficient service with the Corporation and also has been well-known
for activities in a voluntary capacity in many local organisations.
The Department has been very fortunate in the longevity of service of
some of its officers. Since 1921 there have been only two Chief Public
Health Inspectors in the Department. The late Mr. F. H. Lennard covered
the period from 1921 to 1953 and the present holder of the office, Mr.
H. G. Cripps, took over from Mr. Lennard in that year.
Mr. Cripps is to be congratulated, amongst other things, for the very
efficient manner in which the Council's smoke control areas have been
brought into operation. He and his very viligant staff are supervising this
work most satisfactorily, as well as ensuring the success of the campaign
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