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

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Hackney 1903

Report on the sanitary condition of the Hackney District for the year 1903

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Section 68 prohibits, under a penalty not exceeding Five Pounds, the
exposure of infected persons and articles without proper precautions
against spreading disease.
Section 69 prohibits, under a penalty not exceeding Ten Pounds, infected
persons from carrying on any occupation in such a manner as to
be likely to spread disease.
Section 70 prohibits the conveyance of infected persons in public conveyances.
The person responsible for such an offence is liable to a fine
not exceeding Ten Pounds, and the driver of the conveyance is further
liable to a fine not exceeding Five Pounds if, after conveying any such
person, he fail to give notice to the Sanitary Authority and to have the
conveyance disinfected.
Section 72 prohibits, under a penalty not exceeding Five Pounds, the
retention for more than forty-eight hours in a dwelling-room, sleepingroom
and work-room, of the body of any person who has died of any
infectious disease, unless such body is retained with the sanction in
writing of a doctor.
Section 73 requires, that in certain cases, the body of a person who has
died in Hospital of an infectious disease shall be removed only for burial.
Any person wilfully offending against this Section is liable to a fine not
ex ceeding Ten Pounds.
Section 74 prohibits, without previous notice to the owner or driver,
the use of a public conveyance for carrying the body of a person who has
died of an infectious disease, and requires the disinfection of the conveyance
if so used. Any person offending against this Section is liable to a
fine not exceeding Five Pounds, and to a further fine not exceeding
Forty Shillings for every day during which the offence continues.
G. L. GOMME,
Clerk to the Council.
Spring Gardens, S.W.
16th March, 1903.
It is too early to estimate the effect of this Order upon the prevalence
or the fatality of the disease. Of course, it has had an
educational effect, not sufficiently strong enough perhaps to be
measurable, but still sufficient in my opinion to have had some
beneficial results.