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33
REMOVAL OF AGED, INFIRM OR PHYSICALLY INCAPACITATED PERSONS.
Under Section 28 of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1928, the Borough
Council have power to remove to a hospital, infirmary, institution or similar place aged, infirm or
physically incapacitated persons living under insanitary conditions.
During the year under review, three cases were dealt with. The first was that of an old
woman of 83 years of age whose sole income was the Old Age Pension. She was very feeble, dirty
and verminous, and refused to enter the Kensington Institution. The second was that of an old
woman of 80 years of age who was totally blind, suffering from rheumatism and refused to enter a
hospital. Her husband was an inmate of Tooting Bec Mental Hospital and she had no other
relatives or friends. She was in receipt of the Old Age Pension and supplemented that by begging
in the streets. The room in which she lived was dirty and verminous. The third case was that of
a woman of 74 years of age who occupied two basement rooms. This woman was poorly clad, in a
very neglected condition and refused to enter the Kensington Institution. She wandered the
streets in the night time collecting old rubbish and stored this in her rooms which, in
consequence, were in a crowded and offensive condition. In 1925, this woman previously came
under the notice of the Sanitary Inspector and after the instigation of legal proceedings he
removed from her rooms nine cartloads of rubbish. Many complaints were received from other
inmates of the premises in which she lived in regard to her practice of wandering up and down the
stairs throughout the night and shifting the furniture from one position to another. When she
was eventually moved in 1929, ten cartloads of rubbish were removed from her two rooms and this
weighed 5 tons 1 cwt.
In each of the above three cases, the Public Health Committee gave authority for application
to be made to the Court. In the first, the Court gave an Order for the old lady's removal to the
Kensington Institution; in the second, the old lady consented to enter that institution on hearing
that the application to the Court had been authorised; and in the third, an Order was obtained
for removal to the same institution.
At the end of three months, the first and second cases were quite prepared to continue their life
within the institution; in the third case, it was necessary to make application to the Magistrates
for further detention for a period of three months.
There is no doubt that this Section confers considerable benefit on lonely old and infirm
people, and particularly on other persons who are compelled to live in the same house and make
use of the same sanitary conveniences, etc.
INSPECTION OF HOTELS, RESTAURANTS AND BOARDING-HOUSES.
In the latter part of 1928, an outbreak of food poisoning occured in a hotel in South
Kensington and the conditions found therein were so unsatisfactory that the Council appointed a
temporary Sanitary Inspector for the purpose of making a routine inspection of all hotels,
restaurants and large boarding-houses in the Borough.

The defects discovered were for the main part in connection with dirty walls and ceilings and
in every instance there was no difficulty in persuading owners and occupants to carry out the
Council's requirements. Indeed, in many cases the work was put in hand forthwith and the
service of a notice was not required. In no instance was it found necessary to serve a Statutory
Notice.
Reviewing the work on completion, it is very pleasing to be able to record that the conditions
found were much better than was anticipated. In no instance were any premises discovered which
in any way approached the unsatisfactory conditions revealed in the hotel in South Kensington
which gave rise to the decision of the Council in favour of wholesale inspection.
SMOKE ABATEMENT.
The Borough contains but few factories or other workplaces where there is a considerable fuel
consumption and thus the problem of smoke abatement is not a very large one. Nevertheless, in a
Borough which is essentially residential in character, it is very desirable that the nuisance from
smoke should be reduced to a minimum, and during the year the Council's Sanitary Inspectors
made 625 special observations with a view to ascertaining whether there were any breaches of
the smoke provisions of the Public Health Acts. Five nuisances were discovered and without the
service of notices these were abated.