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76
The present station is a small tenement in the Reception
Shelter, and when the Council decided in 1906 to avail themselves
of the powers provided by the Cleansing of Persons Act,
1897, it was considered quite sufficient as a tentative measure
for the purpose. The popularity of the facilities provided by the
Council is shown by the great and increasing use made of the
station, and in consequence the difficulty of carrying on the work
under existing conditions has pari-passu increased every year.
Owing to the impossibility of coping with the work, some two or
three years since it was found necessary, with the approval of
the Health Committee of the Council, to take over another tenement
in the Shelter for the cleansing of verminous school-children.
Some difficulty has arisen in obtaining a suitable site in the
event of the Council deciding to erect a new station. The matter
is, however, one of considerable urgency, which I trust at an
early date will receive the sympathetic consideration of the Council.
The work carried on at the Station has proved most successful, and
is, in my opinion, a distinct advantage from the public health
standpoint to the Borough.
The Midwives Act, 1902.
The Midwives Act in London is administered by the London
County Council as the local supervising authority, and only the
disinfection of the nurses is left in the hands of the Borough
Council.
In Battersea one of the tenements at the Reception Shelter
is used for this purpose. The midwife or monthly nurse who has
been in attendance on a patient suffering from puerperal fever or
other infectious illness is required to attend at the Shelter, and is
given a disinfectant bath, her clothing, instruments, etc., being at
the same time disinfected by steam at the Disinfecting Station
adjoining.
Mortuary.
The total number of bodies received at the Mortuary in
Sheepcote Lane during 1912 was 264, as compared with 287 in
1911, and 234 in 1910, and an annual average for the ten years
1902-11 of 253. On 257 of these bodies inquests were held, and
seven bodies were received at the mortuary for sanitary or other
reasons.
The following table gives the number of bodies received at
the Mortuary in each year since 1900:—