View report page

77
Measles is compulsorily notifiable in the Borough under the
Borough of Hampstead (Measles) Regulations, 1920. A reference to
this disease will be found in Sections 1 and 7 of this Report.
Influenza. This disease did not assume epidemic proportions
during the year; 27 deaths were attributed to it. The deaths recorded
in the preceding four years were as follows:—1921, 30; 1922, 38;
1923, 17 ; and 1924, 45.
Cancer.
A reference to the action of the Borough Council in connection
with this disease will be found in Section 1 of this Report under the
sub-heading of Vital Statistics.
Cleansing and Disinfection of Verminous Persons and their
Belongings.
The Cleansing Station is situate in a small cottage devoted
entirely to this purpose in the Electricity Yard, Lithos Road. The
cottage is away from all public thoroughfares; but a small railway
footpath runs past the door. It consists of three rooms, two downstairs and one upstairs, with a lavatory on each floor, and was
originally built as an Isolation Station.
1,146 cleansings of adults and children were carried out by the
Council's Attendant at the Cleansing Station during the year, and,
whilst this was in progress, their clothing were thoroughly disinfected
by being passed through the disinfecting apparatus.
The cleansings in recent years are as follows:—
1921 1922 1923 1924
1,489 1,482 1,040 915
During the year, as a result of the action of the Sanitary Inspectors, 31 verminous rooms in 19 houses were cleansed and freed
from vermin.
Dirty Conditions.
It is easy to blame people living in unpleasant surroundings for
their condition and environment, but it should be remembered that such
surroundings and their attendant handicaps will, in time, sap the energy
of many of the most vigorous housewives; especially when to her
household duties may be added the care of three or four young children,
probably all under school age.
The crowding that has resulted from the house shortage is responsible in no small measure for this state of affairs. If one takes, for
instance, the one-roomed tenements in the Borough, as ascertained at
the Census of 1921, it will be found that, apart from lettings which are