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blankets which had been returned from South Africa. I also made inquiries respecting absence of
employees on account of illness. No one had been away for more than a fortnight, and I saw and
made personal inquiries of the only one who had been away so long, and be informed me that he had
had no fever and no headache, and that his doct or had certified that he was suffering from acute
indigestion. The manager rendered me every assistance, and was quite willing for the blankets to be
removed for disinfection, and gave me the address of another branch of the firm to which a large
number of blankets had also been sent. In all 338 blankets were removed and thoroughly disinfected
by steam in the Council's apparatus, and returned at 1 p.m. the following day. All the blankets
were carefully examined, and there was no evidence of any blood or faecal stains on any of them.
I also at once communicated with the Medical Officer of Health of the district in which the
branch of the firm was and the manager of the London firm also communicated with the branch.
I visited the premises on four different occasions in order to make certain that no one connected
with the firm was suffering from typhoid fever on account of these blankets.
MEASLES
Only 17 deaths from measles were registered during the year. Of these 15 were young
children under 5 years of age. This is the smallest number of deaths from measles during the past
decennium. In the year 1897, there were also only seventeen deaths. On the other hand, in the
year 1892, there were as many as 101 deaths, and in 1896, there were 73 deaths from this disease,
the decennial average being 39. Of the seventeen deaths only three belonged to Bloomsbury and
St. Giles, and 14 to the Holborn Division. The decennial averages for these districts were 17 and 23
respectively.
Measles was most prevalent in the Borough during the month of April, during which month
six of the seventeen deaths occurred. Notwithstanding the prevalence of measles during that month,
apart from the death returns, I had information of the occurrence of measles in only six other houses,
in four of which I had the information from the doctors attending the cases, and no information at all
from any of the schools. I therefore, reported to the Public Health Committee, that I thought it was
desirable that the Town Clerk should be instructed to again communicate with the Managers of the
Voluntary Schools, requesting them to kindly forward to me lists of children that are absent, or have
been excluded on account of measles, and this recommendation was adopted by the Committee.
Apart from the death returns during the whole year, I had information from all sources of only
31 cases of measles ;22 of which were received from the head teachers of schools. In no school had I
information of sufficient prevalence of measles amongst the children attending, to close even the Infants'
departments.
During the year, disinfections were carried out in 30 houses after recovery or death from
measles.
During the year the Council made a recommendation to the London County Council that
the provisions of Sections 60 to 65 inclusive, Sections 68 and 69, and 70 to 74 inclusive, of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891, with respect to dangerous infectious diseases should also
apply to measles in the administrative County of London. This order was made by the London
County Council and duly approved by the Local Government Board, and came into force from and
including the Ist April this year (1903).
A brief summary of the Sections above referred to was given in last year's Annual Report so
need not be repeated.
WHOOPING COUGH.
During the year there were only 15 deaths from whooping cough in comparison with an
average for the previous decennium of 28. Of the 15 deaths 9 occurred in Bloomsbury and
St. Giles, and 6in the Holborn Division. The decennial averages for these divisions were 13 and
15 respectively.
DIARRHCEA.
The number of deaths certified as Diarrhœa during the year was only 22, in comparison with
an average of 42 during the previous decennium. The lowest being 14 in the year 1902 and the