View report page

heavy responsibility in not issuing posters or placards, as
advised in my report of October the 16th last, calling attention
to the necessity of vaccination and re-vaccination.
" I should further recommend that the Borough Council
ask the Guardians to give instructions to their vaccination
officers to inspect children in the public elementary schools of
the Borough, with a view to ascertaining whether these have
been vaccinated or re-vaccinated. The consent of the proper
authorities of each school would, of course, have to be obtained;
however, I understand from the Local Government Board
Inspector that there is no difficulty in getting the necessary
authorisation from these bodies."
This portion of my report was referred back to the
Committee, who on February 5th brought up a recommendation
which was adopted by the Council, that a leaflet should be
distributed, pointing out the various means to be taken in
combating the disease.
On September 17th the following was considered by
the Public Health Committee:—
Town Hall, Camberwell,
September 8th, 1902.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of Camberwell.
Gentlemen, —The Managers of the Asylums Board have been considering
the question of the provision of a service alternative to that of the
river for the conveyance of smallpox patients, and the matter has been
brought to this Council by a report of the Medical Officer of Health for
Paddington to this Authority, in which he points out the expense of the
proceeding, and advises that a railway transport scheme should be considered
if any change is to be made in the existing arrangements.
As the result of this report the Paddington Borough Council sent
out invitations to all the other London Authorities inviting them to join
in sending a letter to the Local Government Board to ask that body to
refuse its consent to the proposals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board.
The subject of course again came before the Metropolitan Asylums Board,
and they issued a memorandum, in which they point out that they do not
intend to appoint the enormous staff, &c., that has been foreshadowed by
the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington. They state that they merely
wish to provide an alternative means of transport, in the event of the
river service not being available through fog or other weather conditions.
This, in their opinion, would necessitate the acquisition of land for the
purpose of a halting place on the road, and which would provide a halfway
house for the omnibuses on the way to and from Gore Farm. The
adoption of this course would mean that in smallpox times there would
be a house, or at least a house of call for smallpox ambulances, presumably
infected by smallpox, established on the line of route. This, to my mind,
is undesirable, and if any change is to be made it would be far better to