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196
CLEANSING OF PERSONS ACT.
An Act thus intituled, passed in 1897, gives power to any
local authority to permit any person infested with vermin, to
have the use of the apparatus which the authority may possess,
for cleansing the person and his clothing, and provides that
local authorities may expend any reasonable sum on buildings,
appliances, and attendants, that may be required for the carrying
out of the Act. Nominal effect was given to the Act in
this parish by an arrangement entered into with the Guardians,
whereby cleansing and disinfecting apparatus at the ablebodied
workhouse at Mary-place, in the Potteries, was made
available on payment of a small fee by your Vestry. Little
use has been made of the said apparatus, probably owing to
ignorance on the part of the public, no steps having been taken
to make known the arrangement entered into with the Guardians.
In the parish of St. Marylebone, the Vestry having
provided a proper equipment, thousands of cleansing operations
are carried out in the course of the year; much, doubtless,
to the comfort of dirty and verminous persons.
PUBLIC BATHS AND WASHHOUSES.
The baths and washhouses at the junction of Lancasterroad
and Silchester-road, Notting-hill, opened in April, 1888,
are well supported : the washers in the twelve months ended
25th March, 1900, were 63,976 ; an increase of 233, compared
with the number in the preceding official year ; the bathers,
101,083; a decrease of 2,483. But for the majority of
parishioners the site is not sufficiently central for baths, and is
too remote for use by would-be washers. The same objection
would apply, more or less, to any single site in the parish.
Much good might be effected by the provision of buildings, on
a modest scale, and in convenient localities, to which the
poor could resort for the purpose of washing clothing, &c.