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40
Much of the value of a sanitary staff is dependent upon its organisation, and the
relations which exist between the operation of its various members are all important
as affecting the results of their labours. The sanitary authority of a parish is
constituted in the health interests of the population, and the officer who is best
qualified to consider the needs of such population is the medical officer of health.
That it should be within his province not only to advise the sanitary authority, but
to direct generally the work of its officers is, we believe, essential to the success of
the sanitary administration.
The authority will necessarily require to be informed as to the sanitary condition
of the parish generally, as to the manner in which dwelling houses comply with the
requirements of health, and as to the steps which must be taken for the prevention
or limitation of disease. Information of this nature can only be adequately obtained
by the officers, for it is particularly true of a population such as that of Bethnal
Green that the authority cannot rely upon the inhabitants taking the initiative in
bringing complaints. To procure this information the Vestry must, by their
officers, seek for causes injurious to health, and for a large portion of the parish, a
periodical house-to-house inspection is an absolute necessity. It is indeed by such
means only that the parish can be maintained in proper condition. Tho right of
the officers of the authority to obtain entrance is not likely to be disputed, for
entrance is in practice always permitted.
We are informed on the authority of the medical officer of health, that assuming
a system of house-to-house inspection to be introduced into the parish, in addition
to houses in the Green and Town sub-registration districts, which would need
inspection, the greater part of the houses in the Church and Hackney Road subregistration
districts, the two latter comprising at the last census more than 8,000
houses, would probably come within the range of its requirements.
We are led, as the result of our inquiry and inspection, to conclude that the
present number of inspectors is insufficient for such effective administration in
Bethnal Green as we contemplate.
The absence of such inspection is, we believe, responsible in no small measure for
the condition of much house property in Bethnal Green at the present time.
Further, we are satisfied that the proceedings which can be taken under the
Nuisance Removal Acts are insufficient to effect the structural improvements which
are urgently needed in many houses in the parish.
It is sufficient to cite the result of the action of the Vestry in regard to houses
reported by the medical officer of health in 1883, under the Artizans and Labourers
Dwellings Acts. The endeavour of the Vestry to effect by another statute the
improvements needed, is undoubtedly responsible for the fact that the condition of
many of these houses still urgently demands the interference of the authority.
The Vestry have hitherto been unwilling to interfere with houses of which the
lease has nearly expired. They have, indeed, entered into communication with the
freeholders, and have received promises that on the expiration of the lease, defective
property would be demolished and properly reconstructed. These promises have
not, in all cases, been fulfilled, and hence there has been an accumulation of
dwellings of which the repair and sanitary condition is such as to demand interference
at the present time.
The largo number of houses now needing improvement render the duties of the
authority difficult, but it must bo recollected that this number is great, as the result
of absence of administration of the kind necessary to deal with these conditions.