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similar description in many other parts of the Metropolis,
require and will still continue to require the attention and
consideration of your Vestry. The work accomplished by your
Sanitary Inspector in this class of property during recent
years is excellent of its kind, but the reconstruction of
drainage demands close supervision and the expenditure of
much time upon the part of the Inspector. Unless the Inspector
be prepared to assure himself of the efficiency of the
work performed by daily superintendence during its progress,
and by examination and test upon its completion, little advantage
is derived from inspection or the service of the Vestry
Notice. The men employed by the owner are frequently
incompetent workmen. When left to follow their own
course without close superintendence, pipes are laid with
1 faulty connexions, with gradients dipping in the wrong
direction, defects resulting at no distant time in the saturation
of the earth with sewage matter, and the escape of deleterious
gases. From considerations such as these, it becomes
obvious that the work of structural improvement must proceed
slowly, and indeed periodical house to house inspection,
which, with the assistance of a larger staff, might with great
advantage to the health of the parish be extended to all
dwellings, must now of necessity be limited to those streets
and courts which are considered by the Medical Officer
either on account of disease incidence or other urgent cause,
the most deserving of attention.
Since the year 1871, 70,000 persons have been added to
the population of Lambeth. The annual rateable value has
increased by 63 per cent., or a sum estimated at £600,000.
20,000 houses are now occupied by the working classes, and
more than an equal number by parishioners in 11101c comfortable
circumstances. This accession to the work of the
Department has not been accompanied by any change in the