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that an hour after Dr. Corner's visit the child was carried in its
father's arms to the London Hospital, whence it was removed to
Homerton Fever Hospital.
These facts were reported to the Public Health Committee and
W.L., the father of the child was summoned to Worship Street.
The summons was heard by Mr. Mead. Dr. Corner gave evidence
that the child was suffering from Scarlet Fever when taken from
home, and that he had warned the father of its infectious nature.
The defendant admitted knowledge of the nature of the child's
illness, but denied that fear of damage to the milk business influenced
his action ; he tried to justify his conduct and said he was
not aware that the child could have been removed on application
to the Public Health Office. There were other children in the
house, and as the day was Sunday he thought the only way of
getting thesickchild removed was to take it to the London Hospital.
All this was cleverly argued by the solicitor for the defence, and
Mr. Mead's sympathies were evidently worked upon. He did not
consider the case a bad one and he inflicted the nominal penalty 0
10/- and 2/- costs. It afterwards transpired that Dr. Corner himself
was unaware that the Public Health Office is always open day
and night for urgent removals.
As the expense to the Borough Council in these two
cases was nearly £10 the results did not encourage the
Public Health Committee to follow them up with
action in other cases, several of which occurred and
were reported. Moreover, in no instance was absolute
proof of wilful exposure, within the meaning of
Section 58, obtainable, so no other prosecutions were
authorized.
SMALL POX.
No Deaths (Decennial average 8.)
Four cases of small-pox were notified during the
year. All were stated to have been vaccinated in
infancy, and all recovered; only three were true cases
of small-pox.