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27
The burials arranged by the Council are carried out by a local
undertaker under contract, and not more than one coach is provided
for followers. The Health Department make the arrangements and
collect all available information regarding any estate left by the
deceased, particulars of his National Insurance, and the existence of
any "liable" relatives. This information is passed to the Borough
Treasurer so that he may take steps to recover the cost.
The total cost incurred in dealing with the 32 cases was
£200 9s. 10d., of which £72 6s. 6d. had been recovered by the end .
of the year.
Aged and Infirm Persons.
Under Section 47 of the National Assistance Act, 1948, the
Council are empowered to apply to a Court of Summary Jurisdiction
for an Order for the removal to a hospital or other suitable place
of any person who is aged or infirm or suffering from some grave
chronic disease, and is living under insanitary conditions. This power
is exercisable on the certificate of the Medical Officer of Health.
One such case was dealt with, the person concerned being a man
of about 76 years of age who was living alone in a first floor flat
under conditions which were clearly seriously detrimental to his own
well-being and a menace to the health of other occupants of the house.
His only relative was a brother who was himself an inmate of a
mental hospital. The Order was duly made and the man removed to
an institution under the control of the London County Council.
A number of other cases of persons, mostly of advancing years,
alleged to be living under unsatisfactory conditions, were reported. In
none of these was there justification for certifying that an application
for an Order for removal be made. In some cases, however, it was
found possible to arrange voluntary admission to hospital, and other
cases were under observation at the end of the year.
Sale of Contraceptives from Automatic Machines.
About the middle of the year it became known that contraceptives
were being offered for sale from automatic machines attached to shop
fronts, or in shop doorways, in such positions as to be directly
accessible from the street without entering the shop. The Council
considered this matter and decided to support representations which
ad already been made by another London Borough to the Metropolitan
Boroughs' Standing Joint Committee, with a view to legislative powers
of prohibition or control being conferred on local authorities. As a
result, the Home Secretary issued a model of a by-law which could
be made under Section 146 of the London Government Act, 1939.
The Council at their meeting on the 2nd November made a by-law,
on the lines of the model, prohibiting the offer of a contraceptive for
sale by means of an automatic machine so placed that it can be used
by persons in a street, the expression "Street" being defined as
including a way or place over which the public have a right of passage,
and also the forecourt of, or entrance to a building, provided that such
a forecourt or entrance is exposed to the view of persons passing
along the street, and that the public have unrestricted access to such
forecourt or entrance. This by-law was duly confirmed and came