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assistant Inspector has parochial duties such as one of the Inspectors
of Bethnal Green has been in the habit of performing for years
past. In St. George's-in-the-East the Senior Inspector acts as
Hall Keeper, and the Junior as Messenger. In a few districts the
Nuisance Inspectors have duties in connection with street obstructions
and pavements, but these may be fairly considered as Sanitary duties.
I find that in the whole of the Metropolis there are 103 Nuisance
Inspectors; and this gives a rough average of one Inspector to
about 40,000 of the population. In the annexed table I have
calculated the proportion of inhabitants to each Inspector in the
various Metropolitan districts, and I find that the proportion varies
through very wide limits; for instance, Greenwich and St. Olave's
have each only one Inspector; the population of the first is 148,545,
while that of the second is 10,000 only. These certainly are
almost rural districts, and cannot be fairly compared with a
densely-populated parish like our own. Reckoning our number of
Inspectors at two and a half, we have in times past had one
Inspector to about 52,000 inhabitants. This is about 12,000 below
the average; but as we have recently reduced the number of
Inspectors to two, we have one Inspector to 65,000 inhabitants—
a number exceeded by only six other Metropolitan districts. The
amount of assistance given in the Sanitary department by other
officers, makes a very considerable difference in the amount of work
the Inspectors are capable of getting through. I consider that a
Dust Inspector and a Sanitary Clerk ought, in a large district, to
be equivalent to an additional Sanitary Inspector. The duties of
food sampling and disinfecting also take up a great deal of time
that might be more profitably occupied in inspectorial work, and
in many districts special officers are appointed for these duties.
In Bethnal Green the Inspectors have in times past done their
own clerking, and have been held responsible for the proper
performance of the dusting, scavenging, and disinfecting, and for
the carrying out of the provisions of the Food and Drugs' Acts; but
since we have had a "Lyons'" steam disinfector, and a staff of
three men to attend to it, the Inspectors have been relieved of some
portion of their duties. Moreover, the Disinfecting Engineer and