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1905]
184
I am at present using the Shelter House for the purposes of this Act, but it will at once
be seen that this will not, and could not, be legally available when it is required for the
purposes for which it was built, especially should Small Pox break out. At such a time the
London County Council General Powers Act, 1904, would become a dead letter so far as this
Council are concerned, for they could not turn the people living in verminous houses into
the street in order that the necessary cleansing might be done.
Under these circumstances I would propose that accommodation consisting of two receiving
rooms, furnished with bedding and two bath rooms, be provided, one room for the use
of males and the other for the use of females.
Another important Act was passed in 1902, called the Midwives Act, which deals with
the registration of midwives, and under section 3 provision is made for the forming of a
Central Midwives Board, whose duties and powers shall be, among other matters, to frame
rules regulating, supervising and restricting within due limits the practice of midwives.
Amongst the rules so framed is one, No. 5, Section " E," which reads as follows :—
" Whenever a midwife has been in attendance upon a patient suffering from
" puerperal fever or from any other illness supposed to be infectious, she
"must disinfect herself and all her instruments and other appliances to the
"satisfaction of the local sanitary authority, and must have her clothing
"thoroughly disinfected before going to another labour. Unless otherwise
" directed by the local supervising authority all washable clothing should
" be boiled and other clothing should be sent to be stoved (by the local
" sanitary authority) and then exposed freely to the open air for several days."
Now in order to carry out these very necessary precautions against the conveyance of
what is possibly the most deadly infectious disease that is known, provision should be made
tor the disinfection of the nurses and their clothing. It is an obligation which is incumbent
on you under the Act, and more than obligatory on you as men, because one must
feel that everything should be done, at whatever sacrifice, to prevent the infection of women
who are bearing children.
I, therefore, advise that a receiving room and bath room should be provided for the
purposes of this Act.
I would suggest that the three rooms that I have mentioned might be erected under one
roof, each apartment having a separate entrance. It need only be a one floor building.
So far as the land is concerned, we fortunately for once are in no difficulty, for there is
ample ground at the Disinfecting Station to erect these buildings. Another fortunate circumstance
is that this ground was bought for the purposes of the Public Health Department, and,
therefore, its use will not interfere with the rights of any other department or Committee
of the Council.
Finally, 1 would point out that at this time when employment is so much required by
the working classes, the erection of these buildings would give immediate employment to
some of the unemployed.
I am,
Your obedient Servant,
A. E. HARRIS,
Medical Officer of Health.
Town Hall, Islington,
19th December, 1904.