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With few exceptions the disinfected articles were also cleansed, and in a certain number of
instances, moreover, washing of infected articles of clothing, etc., was undertaken, week by week,
for the convenience of householders, during the continuance of infectious disease treated at home;
a charge being made for the service: 1,168 rooms in 1,042 houses were disinfected in the course of
the year.
Residences for Employes.—Deeming it desirable for the disinfecting staff to be resident at
the depot, adjacent to the disinfecting station, i recommended (November 2nd, 1905) provision of
cottages for them, and on 13th March, 1906, the Council adopted reports by the Public Health
Committee and the Finance Committee, as follows:—
Public Health Committee Report (6th March. 1906).—"We are of opinion that it is desirable that the
staff should reside on the premises, and we have therefore considered a proposal for the erection of a block
of four cottages, each containing four rooms, to be rented by the employes at the disinfecting station.
We now submit a sketch plan, prepared by the Borough Engineer, showing the proposed cottages, and
recommend, That the said plan be provisionally approved, and that, subject to the sanction of the Local
Government Board being obtained to the borrowing of the sum required for the erection of the said
cottages the Works Committee be authorised to have the necessary specification and working
drawings prepared, and to invite tenders for the erection of the cottages for submission to the Council."
The Finance Committee (under date 7th March, 1906) reported that the Public Health
Committee had submitted—
"Particulars of the proposal which they are bringing before the Council, for the erection of four
cottages to be occupied by the staff to be employed at the Disinfecting Station at Wood Lane Depot,
and as the adoption of the recommendation of the Committee is made subject to the Local Government
Board sanctioning the raising of a loan to meet the expenditure proposed to be incurred, we recommend,
'That the necessary application be made to the Local Government Board for their sanction to the Council
borrowing the sum required for the erection of the said cottages, [and for the carrying out of the further
works which the Public Health Committee are recommending] in connection with the Disinfecting
Station.'"
Application was made to the Local Government Board (12th April, 1906) for sanction to the
borrowing of about £1,350, the estimated cost of the four cottages—plans of which were forwarded for
approval, and on 4th July, an inquiry was held in regard to this, as part of a larger, application, by
one of the Board's medical inspectors. On October 13th the Board signified their objection to the
plans, on the grounds that the bedrooms were too large, and the cost excessive, although the scheme
was designed to be self-supporting. The Board's letter came before the Public Health Committee
at the first meeting after the triennial election of the Council, in November, when it was resolved,
without discussion that—
"In view of the objection taken by the Local Government Board to the plans and estimates submitted
to them, the further consideration of the question of erecting the proposed cottages be deferred
for six months "
The report of the Committee was adopted by the Council, without debate, and no further
action has been taken in the matter to date.
TEMPORARY SHELTER OR HOUSE ACCOMMODATION.
The Public Health (London) Act, 1891, section 60, sub-section (4), requires the sanitary
authority to make provision for housing persons during the time necessary for the disinfection of
their rooms after infectious disease. The need for this provision is shown by the fact that last year 121
cases of infectious disease occurred in families m the occupation of three rooms; 230 cases in
families occupying two rooms, and 51 cases in families herded in single rooms. Of the sufferers
in families occupying single rooms, 30 had scarlet fever, 15 had diphtheria, and 6 had enteric fever.
In the report for 1904, a statement, prepared for the information of the Public Health Committee,
exhibited the number of cases of infectious disease which had occurred in tenements of less than
four rooms in the eleven years 1894-1904, and the diseases from which the persons suffered who
had resided in single room tenements. The figures indicated an improved state of affairs in recent
years. Now, however, that formalin is so much used for disinfecting, the need of a shelter is less
felt than formerly; it is the fact, moreover, that people generally prefer to make their own
arrangements, rarely makinc use of the shelter where provided.