View report page

Bacteriological Laboratory.
As stated in last year's report the Council decided to fit up a bacteriological laboratory at
an estimated cost of £150. This came into working order at the beginning of 1902. Notices of
its establishment with outfits for diphtheria swabs, were sent to all medical men practising in the
Borough with an intimation that all examinations would be done free of cost. During the year
there were in all 522 specimens of various sorts examined in the laboratory. These included 412
throat specimens for diphtheria, 38 specimens of blood for enteric fever, 67 specimens of
sputum for tubercle bacilli and 5 various which included pus for gonococci, pneumococci, &c.,
Of the throat specimens, 153 were sent in by general practitioners and 259 were taken by
myself.
I regret that the general practitioners do not make more use of the laboratory for
suspicious cases of diphtheria, since a considerable number of cases are still sent to
hospital not suffering from the complaint, and on the other hand many throats are passed
over as tonsilitis, which are really mild cases of diphtheria, and are not discovered till either
the patient or his friends develop serious symptoms. In no disease is bacteriological
examination more important and useful than diphtheria, since the symptoms vary extremely
in severity, and I feel quite convinced that, as in many other infectious diseases, it is the mild
unrecognised cases as well as the healthy "contacts" harbouring diphtheria bacilli in their
throats, that keep the disease "alive" in a district, and that insanitary conditions only predispose
to, but do not originate attacks,
All the specimens of sputum sent for tubercle bacilli came from practitioners, but now
that the voluntary notification of phthisis has been adopted, I anticipate a much larger number,
and up to date of writing this anticipation has been realised. 21 gave a positive, and 46 gave a
negative result.
Nearly all the specimens of blood sent in for enteric fever cases came from general
practitioners. 17 gave a positive, 21 gave a negative reaction.
There would no doubt have been a much greater number of specimens sent, only
fortunately the cases of enteric fever, like diphtheria, were much fewer in number during 1902
than 1901. The specimens under the heading "various" were all supplied by general practitioners.
Temporary Shelter.
The Council last year obtained the permission of the Local Government Board to erect a
shelter at their depot in Spa Road, for the members of families displaced from their homes
during disinfection.
The building is completed, and is now being furnished, and we hope to have it opened by
July of the present year.
Four complete tenements of three rooms each, with scullery, etc., have been erected in a
two-storey building with an additional tenement in the same building for a caretaker.
The walls have been made of sufficient thickness to allow of a third storey being added
in case of need.
Each tenement has a separate entrance from the outside, and between three there is a
common yard; the fourth has a small yard to itself, and is so arranged that in the case of any
particular infectious disease the family can be completely isolated.
From the caretaker's apartments a common passage runs through the centre of the
building, and communicates with each of the tenements by a door which is ordinarily kept locked.
While not luxuriously, the shelter is comfortably fitted up, and when furnished and in
working order will be a very valuable adjunct to our sanitary equipment.
Workshops.
The following is a copy of the memorandum of the Home Office, drawing attention to the
new duties which devolve upon the District Council through the coming into force of the Factory
and Workshop Act, 1901.
Home Office.
FACTORY AND WORKSHOP ACT, 1901.
DUTIES OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES.
ENGLAND AND WALES.
The Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, which consolidated with amendments all previous
Acts relating to factories and workshops, made considerable alterations in and additions to the
duties of District Councils in regard to factories, workshops and workplaces. The present
memorandum describes the duties of District Councils as extended by that Act.
"District Council" includes for the purposes of the Act —
(i.) Councils of municipal boroughs, including county boroughs.
(ii.) Councils of urban districts.
(iii.) Councils of rural districts.
In London, subject to certain exceptions,† "District Council" means the Court of
Common Council and the Councils of the Metropolitan Boroughs.
District Councils have duties in regard to each class of places named above, factories,
workshops and workplaces. It will be useful therefore at the outset to state briefly what is
included in these terms by the Act.
† See page 23.
17