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This he did in a letter, which very fairly sets out the reasons why
these annual reports should not be hastily written and compiled.
When I think of the many matters that have engaged my
attention, and the number of reports on one subject and another
Presented to the Vestry, some of them of the very greatest importance, I
am surprised that this communication should have been made. Almost
weekly, and certainly every fortnight, reports are presented to the
Public Health Committee, while once a month a report is presented to
the Vestry so that you, as the Sanitary Authority, are kept fully
informed of the health and sanitary condition of the district. The
annual report can only be a condensation of these reports and a general
review of the whole year, and its greater utility is that it becomes
a ready means of reference for you for information as to what has been
accomplished. If these frequent reports, to which I have alluded, were
not presented, then, indeed, I could understand the necessity of the
speedy issue of the annual report; but as it is, it can only be prepared
and presented at the cost of the neglect of other work, which, I think
is of far more importance to the community than the mere presentation
of a report. WhateArer may happen to reports, the everyday work
of the Public Health Department must not be neglected. Islington
is an immense district, both in extent and in population, and its work
for all your officers is therefore correspondingly large.
I can hardly believe that the Medical Department of the Local
Government Board seriously presses this matter ; for I venture to
think that there is hardly another body of experts who better
understand the difficulty of preparing and presenting reports while
routine work has to be carried on. If everything has to be done at
once, then, with the departmental work by day, the committees at
night, there is nothing left for the Medical Officer of Health but to
burn the midnight oil, to make a slavery of his life, and to toil as no
other official ever was expected to do ; and it must be recollected that
the work of the Public Health Department increases from day to day.
With the advance of education, the Public and Parliament appreciate
the importance of more and more safe-guarding the public health, so
that now one duty after another is placed on the shoulders of its chief