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154
common lodging-house, where, indeed, they would be neither
welcome nor, in their infective condition, desirable guests. The
best solution to the existing difficulty would be found in compliance
with the provisions of the law—in the interests of
public health and humanity alike.
CLEANSING OF PERSONS ACT, 1897.
An Act thus intituled, passed during the session of 1897,
gives power to any local authority to permit any person infested
with vermin, to have the use of the apparatus (if any) which
the authority possess, for cleansing the person and his clothing,
and provides that local authorities may expend any reasonable
sum on buildings, appliances, and attendants, that may be
required for the carrying out of the Act. Nominal effect was
given to the Act in this parish by an arrangement entered into
with the Guardians, whereby cleansing and disinfecting apparatus
at the able-bodied workhouse, Mary Place, Potteries, was
made available on payment of a small fee by your Vestry.
Little use has been made of the said apparatus, probably
because no steps have been taken to make known the arrangement
entered into with the Guardians. In the parish of St.
Marylebone, the Vestry having provided a proper equipment,
thousands of cleansing operations are carried out in the course
of the year, much, doubtless, to the comfort of dirty and
verminous persons.
PUBLIC BATHS AND WASHHOUSES.
The baths and washhouses at the junction of Lancasterroad
and Silchester-road,Notting-hill, opened in April, 1888, are
well supported : the washers in the twelve months ended 25th
March, 1899, were 63,743; a decrease of 604 compared with the
number in the preceding official year; the bathers, 103,566 ;
a decrease of 7,291. But it must be admitted that, for the great
majority of parishioners, the site is not sufficiently central for
baths, and obviously it is too remote for use for washing
purposes. The same objection would apply, more or less, to