London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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London County Council 1920

Annual report of the Council, 1920. Vol. III. Public Health

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116
Offensive
businesses.

The following table gives particulars of licensed slaughterhouses, knackers' yards and registered offensive businesses for 1918-20.

Year.Slaughterhouses.Knackers' yards.Offensive businesses.
1918174463
1919174453
1920165453

The Council for some time past has considered the conditions under which the businesses of a
fur-skin dresser and a slaughterer of poultry have been conducted, and after careful investigation decided
that in many instances such businesses constituted nuisance and a danger to health. Accordingly
early in 1920 it made orders declaring these businesses to be offensive businesses within the meaning of
section 19 (1) (6) of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. The Minister of Health has confirmed the
Orders and bv-laws for regulating the conduct of the businesses are now being pre pared.
Keeping of
pigs.
Section 17 (4) of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. prescribes 40 yards as the distance from
any street or public place within which premises may not be used for the keeping of swine, but this
was amended by No. 2.0. of the Code of Regulations under D.O.R.A. so as to provide that, irrespective
of the distance from the street, but subject to the consent of the local authority, pigs might be kept
in any premises or place where they did not cause a nuisance or injury to health. Any permission
granted under the regulation is valid for at least five vears.
Cowhouses.
The numbers of cowhouses licensed by the Council are as follows:—1915, 154; 1916, 145; 1917,
141; 1918, 132; 1919, 116; 1920, 107.
Tuberculous
milk.
Under the powers conferred upon the Council by Part IV. of the London County Council (General
Powers) Act, 1907, samples of milk forwarded to London from places outside the county are examined.
In 1920, 1,483 samples from milk consigned to London railway termini from 36 counties were submitted
for bacteriological examination. Of the 1,294 completed examinations 76, or 5.9 per cent., yielded tubercle
bacilli, as against 6.5 per cent. in 1919, 7.4 per cent. in 1918, 10.3 per cent. in 1917, and 8.7 per cent, in.
1916. In connection with these samples the veterinary inspector visited 67 farms and examined 2,737
cows. It was found that 63 cows, i.e., 23 per cent., showed signs of tuberculosis or were otherwise
unhealthy. In each case the farmer undertook to have the animal slaughtered and meanwhile not again
to use the milk. In addition the inspector re-visited 326 farms and inspected 14,352 cows; all the
animals examined at these re-visits were found to be in a satisfactory condition with the exception of
145 which appeared to be tuberculous. In each instance the owner undertook to have the animal
removed.
During 1920 four inspections were made of the cows in 108 London cowsheds, and the total
number of examinations made was 7,120. No tuberculosis of the udder was detected, but in 44 cases
other unhealthy conditions were found. One cow was found with symptoms of general tuberculosis.
Milk supply
and storage.
The Milk and Dames Act, 1914, was repealed in 1915 by the Milk and Dairies (Consolidation)
Act, which consolidated the law set out in the Act of 1914, with certain provisions of the Contagious
Diseases (Animals) Acts, 1878, and 1886, and the Food and Drugs Act, 1899. It was provided that the
Act of 1915 should come into operation on such date, not later than one year after the war, as the
Minister of Health might appoint. In the autumn of 1920 a Bill to amend the consolidating Act of
1915 was introduced into the House of Commons by the Minister of Health, but was dropped before
second reading.
Appeal
Committee.
The Appeal Committee are the statutory appeal committee under the Metropolis Management
Act, 1855, section 212. The Committee also hear and decide all appeals made to the Council under any
other Act of Parliament (except appeals under section 20 (5) of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891,
against decisions of the Public Health Committee). During 1920 the Committee decided five appeals
under the Act of 1855.
Health
administration
iu
London.
The Council on 25th March, 1919, appointed a Special Committee to consider and report what
alterations and extensions were desirable in the powers and duties of the different local authorities and
other bodies, both official and voluntary, responsible for performing health duties in London.
The Special Committee on 19th December, 1919, submitted a report dealing fully with the
development of, and the serious defects in, the present organisation of health services, with proposals
for reconstruction.* The Council received the report and agreed to the Committee's,recommendations,
which were as follows:—
That, in the opinion of the Council, a scheme for the better organisation of health services
in London should provide that—
(i.) The health functions of London Poor Law authorities should be divided between the
Council, the City Corporation and the metropolitan borough councils substantially on the
basis proposed in the report of the Local Government Committee appointed by the Minister
of Reconstruction on the subject of the transfer of functions of Poor Law authorities in
England and Wales.
(ii) The administration in London of such additional health services as may by future
legislation be required to be administered by public authorities should be entrusted to the
Council, the City Corporation and the metropolitan borough councils, in addition to the
duties already placed upon them by statute.
* Report of the Special Committee on Health Administration in London. No. 2000. Price 3d.