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CHAPTER XXXV.
Public Health.
Powers
and duties
of the
Council.
Many important duties devolve on the Council in relation to public health. These duties are set
forth in various Acts of Parliament, the principal Act being the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. This
Act authorises the Council to deal with offensive businesses, to make orders adding to the list of infectious
diseases notifiable under the Act, and to license slaughterhouses, cowhouses and knackers' yards. The
Council is also empowered to take proceedings with respect to nuisance caused by a sanitary authority
in removing, treating or disposing of house or street refuse, and to act in default when a sanitary
authority fails to carry out its statutory duties. The Act also empowers the Council to make by-laws
for regulating (a) the conduct of offensive businesses, and the structure of the premises on which they are
being carried on; (6) for regulating the removal or carriage of offensive or noxious matter or liquid and
as to the removal and disposal of refuse, etc., as to water-closets, earth closets, privies, cesspools and
receptacles for dung. The Council is also required under the Act to pay half the salaries of local
medical officers of health and sanitary inspectors, and may make representations to the Local Government
Board as to the number of sanitary inspectors appointed. Copies of all periodical reports of
medical officers of health must be given to the Council, and in the event of any medical officer failing
to carry out this requirement the Council may refuse to contribute towards his salary. The Council
is authorised by section 6 of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1908, to contribute any
sum towards the salary of a health visitor appointed by a metropolitan borough council not exceeding
one-half of the salary. In addition to the powers which the Council possesses under the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, to deal with offensive businesses, section 9 of the London County Council (General
Powers) Act, 1908, authorises the Council to make by-laws for regulating the conduct of the businesses
of a fish curer, vendor of fried fish, and rag-and-bone dealer. The supervision of common lodginghouses
under the Common Lodging Houses Acts, 1851 and 1853, a duty at one time carried out by the
police, has, since 1894, devolved upon the Council. By the London County Council (General Powers)
Acts, 1902 and 1907, the Council is authorised to license common lodging-houses, to require the appointment
of a resident deputy in each house; to make by-laws for regulating the conduct of such house and
to cause any inmates who may be verminous to be cleansed compulsorily if necessary. In addition
the Council licenses seamen's lodging-houses and enforces the by-laws made by it under section 214 of
the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894. Further, under part VIII. of the London County Council (General
Powers) Act, 1903, the Council is authorised to license premises for receiving horses for slaughter or dead
horses. Powers with regard to safeguarding the purity of London's milk supply are given under various
Orders and Acts, and are as follows:—Under the Dairies, Cowsheds and Milkshops Orders of 1885,
1886 and 1899, the Council has power to secure proper lighting, ventilation, cleansing, drainage and
water supply of cowsheds and dairies and the sanitary condition of milk stores and milkshops. The
Orders also forbid, under penalties, the use for human food of milk from a diseased cow, or from a cow
with tubercular disease of the udder; under part V. of the London County Council (General Powers)
Act, 1904, the Council is empowered to seize and slaughter, on payment of compensation to the owner,
any cow in a London cowshed suspected of tuberculosis of the udder; under part IV. of the London
County Council (General Powers) Act, 1907, the Council is authorised to take within and outside the
county and examine samples of milk entering London; to proceed to the place from which any sample
proving tuberculous was sent to London; to examine the cows thereat, and if any are found affected
with tuberculosis of the udder, to prohibit the sending into London of further supplies of milk. The
Act also contains provisions for the isolation of cows suffering from tuberculosis of the udder and for
notice to be given of such cows to the Council's medical officer.
In addition to the duties enumerated above, part IV. of the London County Council (General
Powers) Act, 1904, and part III. of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1909, authorises
the Council to represent to the Local Government Board when a sanitary authority has made default
in carrying out its duties in regard to the purifying and cleansing of articles and premises and
accommodation for the storage of food.
Smallpox.
Early in 1911 an outbreak of smallpox occurred in London. On 21st February three
cases were removed to hospital from the Mile End Infirmary, and subsequently other cases were
notified in the Borough of Stepney. In addition to the occurrences in Stepney cases occurred in
Westminster, Bethnal Green, Hackney, Deptford and Poplar. The total number of cases reported was
62, of which 10 proved fatal.
Experience in previous outbreaks had shown that slight cases are sometimes mistaken for cases
of chicken pox, with the result that infected patients have not been isolated so early as would have been
the case had the real nature of the disease been at once recognised. In these circumstances the Council
decided to make chicken pox a notifiable disease for three months, and further to apply to that disease
Sections 68 and 70 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. These sections impose restrictions on
persons suffering from an infectious disease as regards exposure in public places and conveyance in
public conveyances.
Typhoid
fever.
Investigation was during the year made into an outbreak of typhoid lever which
occurred in the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury during the month of September. Attention
was called to the suspicion which has from time to time fallen on various articles of food as the cause of