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9
The house was built on a made soil, and the basement was dark and
ill ventilated, the stairs leading from the ground floor to the basement
being quite dark.
In this case the Sanitary Authority, acting upon my advice, desired
the introduction of a window at the head of the staircase, which
would give facilities for admitting both light and air. It is known as
a scientific fact that light is inimical to the growth of the Typhoid
organism—the Magistrate before whom the summons was heard, held,
however, that light was not necessary—and that the air could be
admitted to the basement by making the pane of glass over the
front door of the ground floor to open.
Disinfection. 8330 articles of clothing, bedding, etc., have been
disinfected, a number considerably in excess of the previous year.
I have to record with satisfaction the steps taken by your Board to
provide proper conveyances for the removal of infected and noninfected
bedding, etc., two waggons of an improved pattern having
been ordered for this purpose, one for removing the infected clothing,
bedding, etc., from the infected house to the disinfecting chamber, the
other for conveying back the clothing, bedding, etc., after disinfection.
In some cases it was necessary to give compensation, notably in
certain small-pox cases, where the bedding, etc., were destroyed.
Sickness Returns.
I append a table giving the returns from various
sources for the year (Table 9).
House to House Inspection.
During the year the Inspectors have visited 3052
houses, and made 2780 re-inspections, these inspections
necessitating the issuing of 1554 notices—in the great majority of
cases these were complied with.
Common Lodging Houses
There are 36 common lodging houses, showing a
decrease of four since my last report.
These houses are as a rule well conducted, and the proprietors have
shown a desire in every way to co-operate with the sanitary officials.
The Home Secretary has intimated his intention of transferring
the control of these houses from the Police to the London County
Council. In my opinion there was no necessity for this change, and