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29
In 1903 the London County Council took practical measures for preventing
spitting in certain public places in the Metropolis by issuing the following
bye-law on the 12th May of that year, made under Section 23 of the Municipal
Corporations Act, 1882, and Section 16 of the Local Government Act, 1888,
viz.:— .
"No person shall spit on the floor, side or wall of any public carriage
"or any public hall, public waiting room, or place of public entertainment,
"whether admission thereto be obtained by payment or not."
"Any person who shall offend against this bye-law shall be liable for
"such offence to a fine not exceeding forty shillings."
In September, 1903, I further advised that the attention of all governing
bodies of schools in the City should be directed to the desirability of their
taking active steps towards checking the evil amongst scholars under their
charge.
This suggestion was adopted, and a circular letter to this effect sent to all
schools in the City. In replying to this letter on the 10th November, 1903, the
Clerk to the School Board for London stated that the Board proposed issuing
a notice in their "Gazette," advising teachers who give lessons in hygiene that
they would do well to impress upon their scholars the danger of spitting in
public places.
The issue of the bye-laws referred to was a step in the right direction, but
measures are still required for preventing the infection of pu blic thoroughfares
with the sputa of tuberculous patients. The pathogenic bacilli are always
present in enormous numbers in the sputa of infected persons, and when dried
are carried into the air and liable to infect any person who furnishes a suitable
soil for development.
Unfortunately, the Corporation have no power to prevent persons from
spitting on the footpaths or roadways. In these circnmstances the Sanitary
Committee, on the 25th June, 1903, recommended that a clause be inserted in
the next omnibus bill empowering the Corporation to make and enforce byelaws
with a view to effectually remedying the nuisance. The Court agreed
with the report except that the proposed clause should not apply to streets.
At a meeting of the Sanitary Committee on the 11th July, I suggested that
probably the best way of bringing to the notice of the public the danger to
health arising from the objectionable habit of spitting on the pavements would
be to have a notice, at a convenient height, exhibited on all lamp-posts, as had
already been done in several towns, notably in Birmingham.