View report page

76
Action
taken at
Blackburn
At Blackburn during 1898 the Town Council
made application to the Local Government Board for
their consent to the order of the Town Council,
that for the purposes of the Blackburn Improvement Act, 1882,
phthisis be deemed an infectious disease, and the following is
a copy of the reply received.
"I am directed by the Local Government Board to advert
"to your letter of the 5th instant, asking for their consent to the
"order of the Town Council of Blackburn, that for the purposes
"of the Blackburn Improvement Act, 1882, phthisis be termed
"an Infectious Disease."
" I am to state that the Board have hitherto held the view
"that phthisis is not a disease to which the principle of com
"pulsory notification could with advantage by applied, and in this
"connection I am to remind the Town Council that many
"persons who would be notified to them as suffering from
"phthisis would be individuals in whom the disease is so little
"advanced that not a few of them may be expected to have many
"years of life in prospect during which it will be imperative on
"them to gain a livelihood for themselves, and often also for their
"families. The Board do not find in the Medical Officer of
"Health's report, which accompanied your letter, any grounds
"which would lead them to modify that view, and they therefore
"are not prepared to consent to the addition of phthisis to the
"list of diseases notifiable in the Borough, under the Blackburn
Improvement Act, 1882."
Inasmuch as the phthisis death-rate at Blackburn closely
corresponds with that of Battersea, it could hardly be regarded
that we have any stronger claims upon the Local Government
Board than Blackburn. It is, moreover, evident that any
action taken with this object must be made by a combination of
the whole of the Metropolitan Sanitary Authorities.