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The Health of Barking
feet. We not only have to deal with the amount of space required within buildings
which, as I have shown above, makes a total of 570 square feet for every single
individual, but during the past years we have been taught to think in terms of good
planning and it is to this matter we have to pay special attention. The changes
which planning can bring are improvements in amenities and social conditions;
on the other hand, planning may seriously delay building development. It is very
clear, therefore, that housing and planning must work hand in hand. It is especially
important during this period when we are endeavouring to catch up with the lag
in housing development consequent upon the war.
There is no doubt that most of the people in Barking live, work and travel
in overcrowded conditions. Our new estates, however, are an attempt to raise
the standard of living space in the home, and it is right that these standards should
be universally applicable. On these standards our pre-war 1914 houses must be
regarded as obsolescent. Whilst in Barking the Council has built so many houses as
are permissible, with the large increase now taking place a new stage has been
reached and it is proper that as landlords the standards of design and maintenance
should be as good as any that can be achieved.
I cannot pass from environmental hygiene without making some reference to
atmospheric pollution. After one hundred years of Public Health legislation,
so far as the smoke problem is concerned, we are still restricted to punitive measures
in relation to offences, already committed. Until the man in the street and the
industrialist realise the discomfort and the adverse effect of smoke on animal,
vegetable and mineral materials we shall, unfortunately, fail to make adequate
progress.
It is in the home foremost that immediate improvements can be effected by
the use of domestic appliances having a greater efficiency. The output of these
new and better types of grates is increasing rapidly, and is now sufficient to meet
the demands of the market.
(A) SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AREA.
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.
The rainfall figure for the year was 22.94 inches compared with 15.92 for the
previous year. Barking is fortunate in its situation in the driest part of England.
All of us must learn how to take advantage of the sunlight by using the bronzing
of the skin as an index of dosage; devise suitable clothing; value the clear early
morning—in short, fear the heat and love the light, keep our children cool and
bright.
In addition we must abolish the deadly pall of smoke against which I have
inveighed for some years; so that maximum sunlight may be restored to us. It
has been stated that "of all flowers the human flower is that which has most need
of the sun," and that "baths of water are good, baths of air are better and baths
of light are best."
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