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TO THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS
of the
Walthamstow Urban District Council.
Gentlemen,
In accordance with Article XIX. of the recent order of the
Local Government Board, governing the appointment and duties of
Medical Officers of Health, I beg to submit to you my Annual Report
"on the sanitary circumstances, the sanitary administration, and the
vital statistics of the district," for 1910.
"The Medical Officer of Health ought not to have any difficulty in
making this report within two months " of the completed year, says the
memorandum issued by the chief Medical Officer.
This has not been my experience, and if the report had to be made
in official hours it would never appear as all my time is fully occupied
with the every day work of my position.
The report can only be a summary of those issued to you monthly,
and therefore most of the matter will be quite familiar to you, and were
it not compiled for other reasons the trouble involved, and the expense
incurred in its production would hardly be justified.
In the report will be found evidences of a very satisfactory condition
of the Public Health generally, and if the sanitary administration of
your district might properly be judged by results it has been very
efficient.
To do so however, would show a lack of appreciation of the many
other factors involved over which we have little control.
No doubt efficient administration of the Public Health Statutes, and
the adoption of the best means for the purpose, will in time "secture
the home healthy, the house beautiful, the town pleasant," and all that
improved physical well-being which these connote, but the work of any
one year cannot rightly be judged by its apparent results.
While your district as a whole can be regarded as a desirable and
healthy place to live in and one of the healthiest of London's suburbs,
certain areas within it require the constant care and watchfulness of the
Sanitary Inspector in co-operation with the friendly administrations of
the Health Visitor.