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52
Judged by the average results attained in the nineteen
Boroughs referred to in the letter of the London
County Council the practical utility of any system of
voluntary notification is so problematical, that the
Committee recommended the Council to inform the
County Council that in their opinion the only satisfactory
method of notification of phthisis must be
based on a compulsory system embracing the whole
County of London. The Council adopted this recommendation.
In November a letter was received from the Stepney
Borough Council with reference to the Public Health
(Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1908, and to a suggestion
of the Local Government Board that the Council
should adopt a general system of voluntary notification
of Pulmonary Tuberculosis. The Stepney Council
expressed the opinion that if sanatorium treatment
were available, the adoption of voluntary notification
could be successfully carried out, and sought the support
of this Council to representations that had been
made to the Local Government Board to allow the
Metropolitan Asylums Board to use their vacant isolation
hospitals for the reception of consumptive persons
for sanatorium treatment.
The Committee however was still of opinion that
compulsory notification of Phthisis was properly the
first step to be taken in the treatment of the disease
from the public health standpoint and the Stepney
Borough Council was informed accordingly.
From the date of the coming into force of the Public
Health (Pulmonary Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1908,