steps after _fatal_ cases of these infectious diseases. I have to express my obligations to the officers of the Board of Guardians for information of cases of infectious diseases, &c.; and I am happy to testify my sense of the cordial support I invariably receive from the Sanitary Inspectors, and of the efficient manner in which their onerous, often delicate, and always important duties have been performed. Some portion of the time of Messrs. Wood and Langman has been taken up in attending to the new duties imposed on them under the Adulteration of Food, &c., Act—especially in attending the police court to conduct prosecutions. Much of the work of general inspection is still done in a desultory way, owing to the magnitude and inconvenient configuration of the parish, and to the necessity of attending to complaints as they arise from day to day—a necessity that impedes, more or less, the important duty of systematic inspection of the houses in streets, &c., inhabited by the poorer classes of the population. It is desirable that the 35th clause of the Sanitary Act, 1866, should be adopted, in order to the registration and regular inspection of all houses which are let out in tenements. No doubt this would involve much additional work for a time, but the benefits would be commensurate, for the risk of overcrowding would be diminished, ventilation would be improved, and the cleansing of the rooms, staircases, &c., would be systematically carried out. It seems to me that this is the direction sanitary improvement should take in the future; and the staff having been increased by the appointment of an additional officer, I am not without hope of being able to bring the subject under the notice of your Vestry at an early date, with reasonable prospect of success. A principal difficulty in connection with sanitary administration is that of securing an efficient record of work done—a difficulty which has been much lessened in this parish by the conspicuous care and ability with which Mr. Rudman has performed the clerical duties of the department. I am, Gentlemen, Your very obedient Servant, T. ORME DUDFIELD, M.D., _Medical Officer of Health_. VESTRY HALL, KENSINGTON, _August_, 1875. APPENDIX. NOTE—The forms for Tables I.–VI. have been settled by the Society of Medical Officers of Health to ensure uniformity of Statistical returns. TABLE I. Estimated population 1874, at the middle of the year, and in 10 previous years; number of inhabited houses; Births, Deaths and Marriages (gross numbers).