View report page

10
Metropolitan Borough of Hackney
REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE YEAR 1935.
Public Health Department,
Town Hall, Hackney, E.8.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit, in accordance with Article 14 (3)
of the Sanitary Officers' Order, 1926. my Annual Report upon the
sanitary circumstances, the sanitary administration, and the state
of the public health generally in the Metropolitan Borough of
Hackney during the year 1935.
The Annual Report for 1936 will possibly be a "Survey
Report," but in any case I hope to describe in that Report the
progress of clearance schemes since the Housing Act, 1930.
It is obvious that a great step forward is contemplated in the
reduction of overcrowding in London by means of the housing
survey and the consequent provision of additional housing accommodation
under the Housing Act, 1935, but it would be very
far from correct to state that the evil of overcrowding will in
consequence be entirely abated. The problem will be solved
no doubt with regard to a certain type of overcrowding; that
is, overcrowding where special difficulties as to sex separation,
the presence of tuberculosis in the family and means to pay
for the necessary accommodation do not arise. The final total
of 898 dwellings to be provided in the Borough does not take into
account, for instance, more than ten cases where- the separation
of the sexes is required although there are 698 cases where the sexes
are not satisfactorily separated. These difficulties will be found
mentioned on pages 97 to 99 in the body of this Report. Facts
such as those mentioned show that even the alleviation of overcrowding
according to the standard of the Housing Acts will still
leave some problems for the local authority as regards the provision
of housing accommodation. It is very necessary that measuring