View report page

Regarding the other school which is assumed to have ground for
complaint, I would point out that the case of smallpox at the Remand
Home was notified to me on the 14th, so that the mischief would have
been done before we could possibly have warned the authorities of the
school in question, even had we been able to communicate with Redhill
on April 14th.
I would advise that a copy of the letter of complaint from Mr.
Robertson be forwarded to the Industrial School Department with a
suggestion that they always get immediate information of the destination
of the boys and girls who are drafted off to schools under their control by
order of the magistrates.—I am, gentlemen, your obedient Servant,
FRANCIS STEVENS, Medical Officer of Health.
On August 5th I received a further letter from the
Local Government Board in the following terms:—
Local Government Board, Whitehall, S.W.,
August 5th, 1903.
Sir,—I am directed by the Local Government Board to advert
to your report to the Borough Council of Camberwell with reference to
the transfer of certain girls and boys from the Camberwell Remand Home
to certified reformatory schools at a time when inmates of the former
institution had been found to be suffering from smallpox, and in forwarding
to you the enclosed copy of a list which the Superintendent of
the home states was handed to the Sanitary Inspector on April 15th, I am
to state that the Board are unable to reconcile the information given in
that list with the statement contained in your report that "this list gave
us no idea of the destination of the boys and girls beyond the number of
the police constable in whose charge they left the home."
I am, sir, your obedient Servant,
(Signed) NOEL T. KERSHAW, Assistant Secretary.
F. Stevens, Esq., Medical Officer of Health.
To which I replied as under on August 18th, 1903:-
Town Hall, Camberwell,
August 18th, 1903.
Dear Sir, —Remand Home, Camberwell Green.—I enclose you
a copy of the list as received by the Sanitary Inspector about two o'clock in
the afternoon of April 15th, 1908, with the exception that I have numbered
the names in red for the purpose of reference. In the case of 24, 27 and
also 15 the addresses appear to have been added, as they are in a different
handwriting, and I believe the} - were obtained by my clerk, who is at
present away on leave. Directly he returns I will let you know whether
it was as we received it. With regard to number 11 the words "near
Woking" in brackets were added by my clerk.
Yours faithfully.
FRANCIS STEVENS, Medical Officer of Health.
The Secretary, Local Government Board,
Whitehall, S.W.