London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Southwark 1894

Annual report for 1894 of the Medical Officer of Health

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11
Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health—1894.
Her Majesty's judges decided that these shelters did not fall within the regulations
of the Common Lodging-House Acts. Another judicial decision showed that such
institutions did not come under the Public Health (London) Act so far as disinfection
was concerned. On that occasion Mr. .Justice Wills said that " the case was clearly
one in which the Act ought to apply, but does not."*
The need of an extension of the powers of your local authority in dealing with
shelters of the kind may be judged from the following considerations:—
(1) In 1893 thirty-one cases of small-pox were referred, directly or indirectly, to
the Blackfriars Army Shelter.
(2) The overcrowding, which is clearly shown in the following table:—

TABLE IX.

A comparison of the minimum cubic and superficial space allotted to each Adult in the Dormitories of various institutions.

Cubic Space.Floor or Superficial Space.
Cubic feet.Square feet.
Blackfriars Penny Shelter906
Common lodging houses in London34131
Workhouses300
Military Barracks600
Prison Cells800
General Hospitals1,200100

As pointed out in my report for 1893, this list emphasises the utterly inadequate
space allowance in the shelters, amounting to less than one-third of the minimum
cubic space elsewhere, and little over one-thirteenth of the amount considered necessary
in a good general hospital.
Although the regulation of these philanthropic and semi-philanthropic—that is
to say, free and paying—shelters has been widely discussed, there has been so far no
practical outcome. The subject is presenting increasing difficulties to medical officers
throughout the country, and sooner or later will have to be met by drastic action on the
part of the Government. While everyone sympathises with the aims of the
founders of such refuges for the poor and the needy, it is nevertheless extremely
difficult to understand why they should insist on running counter to the local authorities,
who must necessarily be the better judges as to what is or is not a danger to the
public health.
For my own part, as your responsible medical officer, so long ago as 1892 I felt it
my duty to point out that the presence of a shelter in the midst of this crowded district
constituted a real danger to the rest of the community—that is to say, in the
absence of thorough and efficient control.
One of the greatest evils that can affect a dense population arises from the spread
of infectious diseases. In my opinion under present conditions these ill-regulated
night refuges are apt at any time to become hot-beds of infection, and are a standing
I menace to the public safety.
* A full account of both these cases will be found in the Appendix.