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22
It would seem that the offenders are, to a large extent, people
living at some distance from the bombed sites, and that the deposits
are made with complete disregard to their effect upon those unfortunate
enough to be living in the immediate vicinity of the sites.
Such lack of thought for others serves to illustrate the innate
selfishness of the type of person upon whom all the health education
which has been undertaken proves of little avail.
Throughout the review of the work of the department during
the past 30 years it has been necessary to refer to the repressive
effect which the two post-war periods have had upon the realisation
of our hopes of progressive improvement in all branches of the
work of the Public Health Department, but perhaps none of the
department's activities has been so affected as the work of the
sanitary inspectors which has been carried out in the face of an
almost continuous struggle against adverse conditions. These
conditions have been referred to each year in my Annual Reports,
and so it is neither necessary nor, within the compass of this Report,
possible to recount all the difficulties which have arisen, although
for the purpose of this review reference will be made to some of them.
In many parts of this Report, where the work of the past 30
years has been reviewed, it has been possible to show that despite
the last war, conditions have much improved as compared with the
years when I first took office, but so far as the sanitary inspection
of premises is concerned it is to be regretted that the difficulties
remain very great. This, however, has not been due to any laxity
on the part of the sanitary inspectors, but due to the economic
and social conditions arising out of two world wars. It is perhaps
true to say that only during the later 1930 years did the Public
Health Department begin to see the results of its constant endeavours
to ensure good housing accommodation for the people, but in 1939
came the war with its intensive destruction of premises and damage
to houses, combined with shortage of labour and materials and the
almost heartbreaking task of trying to produce order out of chaos.
Some of the difficulties encountered in putting into a reasonable
state of repair the houses in the borough which had been neglected
during these two periods have been referred to elsewhere in this
report under the heading of "Housing," but mention should be
made of the fact that in 1920, 4,662 complaints of nuisances were
received by the department and that these, together with inspections
of houses in connection with infectious diseases, resulted in the
service of 6,781 Intimation and 982 Statutory Notices, whilst the
difficulty experienced in enforcing these notices is shown by the
116 instances in which legal proceedings were necessary, 13 of
which were for the purpose of securing compliance with Magistrates'
Orders.