e work of a Sanitary Inspector.
There was never any question as to the value of the work done nor of
the efficiency with which it was performed, but the Local Government
Board Auditor took the view that it did not come within the scope of
the order of 1891, defining the duties of a Sanitary Inspector, and
he refused to sanction the payment out of the County Rate of half the
salary of those women who were engaged in Health Visiting work. In
March 1905, the borough of Kensington solved the difficulty for itself
by appointing a Health Visitor and paying the whole of her salary out
of the Local Rate; but less wealthy boroughs felt unable to do this.
It was work which the Sanitary Authorities wanted to undertake; it was
work which the London County Council and the Local Government Board
were desirous of seeing performed, but this technical difficulty stood
in the way. It was overcome by the inclusion in the London County
Council General Powers' Act of 1908, of Section 7, which empowered
Sanitary Authorities in the Metropolitan area to appoint Health
Visitors, and this enabled the London County Council to contribute
half their salaries out of the County Rate. As a matter of fact, at
the present time (November 1913) the whole of the salary of Health
Visitors in London is being paid out of the Local Rate, as the
Exchequer contribution account is completely depleted by the payment
of the moiety of the salary of Sanitary Inspectors.

The essential difference between a Woman Sanitary Inspector and a
Health Visitor is that the Woman Sanitary Inspector is a statutory
officer with a legal position, having definite rights of entry and
certain statutory powers for enforcing the Public Health Acts, while
a Health Visitor is a purely advisory officer, with no legal status
or right of entry or power to carry out any of the provisions of the
Public Health Acts.

In actual practice, the title of Inspector has in no way proved an
obstacle to successful health visiting, as may be demonstrated by
an enquiry into the work now being carried on by Women Sanitary
Inspectors in Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, Bradford, London, and other
places. On the contrary, it has enabled officials to obtain an entry
into dirty and insanitary places and to expose cases of neglect, which
might otherwise have remained undiscovered.

The Health Visitor is usually paid a lower salary than the Woman
Sanitary Inspector; this ranges in London from L100 to L120; in the