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death-rate which was 12.2 per 1,000; the corresponding rates for
London being only 18.2 and 1.68 respectively.
The final Report of the Royal Commission on Vaccination was
published the latter part of the year. I give a short abstract of this
most important Report. It is to be hoped that this will give a stimulus
to increased vaccination and re-vaccination.
I also give an abstract of the results of an inquiry by the Local
Government Board concerning the Oyster Culture of Great Britain
and its relation to disease.
Another Royal Commission on Tuberculosis is now sitting It has
to report principally upon what practical means can be taken to secure
the extermination of tuberculosis from our meat and milk supplies.
The Board may be glad to know that Mr. Billing and I had the
honour of giving evidence before this Commission.
The Metropolitan Asylums Board has again been unable to receive
all the cases of scarlet fever and diphtheria that required to be removed
to their hospitals, notwithstanding the continued efforts of the Managers
to keep pace with the growing demands of the Metropolis.
Additional duties have recently been imposed upon the Managers by
the Local Government Board for the amelioration of the infectious sick
and insane poor children of the Metropolis.
These duties consist of providing for the care of children:—
(a.) Suffering from opthalmia or other contagious disease of the
eye.
(b.) Suffering from contagious disease of the skin or scalp.
(c.) Requiring either special treatment during convalescence or the
benefit of sea-side air.
(d.) Who by reason of defect of intellect or physical infirmity cannot
properly be trained in association with children in ordinary
schools; and
(e.) Who are ordered by two justices or a magistrate to be taken
under the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, to a workhouse or an
asylum of the district.