View report page

6
Workman holding that which might almost be regarded as
a sinecure office, an official recruited into the service of the
Vestry from the ranks of ex-sailors, ex-policemen, or
army pensioners. He brought with him a character for
honesty and sobriety, and his appearance was such as
would admit him as a candidate where youth was a quality
having weight with the Committee of Selection. A knowledge
upon sanitary matters acquired from a course of
technical training was not expected from him. No greater
accomplishment than the art involved in writing a letter or
the ability displayed in reading it was put forward as a
qualification by the candidate, or regarded as a recommendation
by his employers. A close application for a few weeks
to the work of his district, and a few hints from his older
associates in office, afforded him a sufficient fund of assurance
and official mannerism to follow the routine of his duty
with satisfaction to himself, his Vestry and his Parish.
But with the advances in sanitary science, and a more
extended appreciation of sanitary principles, this view of the
qualifications and duties of a Sanitary Inspector is no longer
entertained. Builders, plumbers, and the heterogenous body
of workmen engaged in connection with sanitary work, are
not long in estimating at its proper worth the practical
ability of the man whose instructions it is their duty to
follow ; nor are they slow in finding means to evade the
supervision and directions of a chief whose opinions they
have learned to despise. Although perhaps not deeply
versed in sanitary matters, the ratepayers and the workmen
alike look for the presence among them of a man who,
having a practical knowledge of his profession, can speak
with authority.
But the Inspector of to-day is a man highly trained and
skilled in plumbing, drain-laying, and the allied handicrafts