View report page

22 TUBERCULOUS DISEASES.
The occupations of the 149 persons dying of pulmonary tuberculosis are set out below,
but it is believed that in a certain proportion of the cases, the occupations at the date of
decease represent the last work the deceased could do, not his original avocation. The
figures should not be taken as representing the proportional incidence of the disease on the
occupation specified.
Occupation.
M
F.
Occupation.
M.
F.
Occupation.
M
F.
Indoor:— I Outdoor:— Mixed:—
Domestic Servant... 1 4 Labourer 14 ... Potman 1
Charwoman 2 Carman ... ... 11 ... Engineer ... ... 1
Housewife ... 28 Cab or Omnibus Porter ... ... 6
School (Teacher) ... 1 0 o* Service 3 ... Carpet-beater ... 1
„ Child ... J " ° Stableman ... ... 4 ... Shop Assistant ... 1
Dentist ... ... 1 ... Building Trades ... 8
Baker ... ... 1 ... Roadman ... ... 3
Clerk, Typist ... 5 ... Postman ... ... 1
Shop Assistant ... 7 2 Coachman... ... 4 ... No Occupation ... ^
Stoker ... ... 1 ... Canvasser (Trade) 1 ... Occupation not J>6 8
Dressmaker, Tailor ... 6 Policeman 1 ... known J
Skilled Artizan ... 9 ... Hawker ... ... 1
Laundry-worker 1
Shop Keeper ... 1
* Including 2 Teachers.
Of the 149 deaths, 17 occurred in out-lying institutions and the housing conditions of the
deceased were not ascertained, while four deaths occurred in two families. There remain,
therefore, 130 families as to whose housing particulars are available. These are given
on next page.
The numbers of children under 10 included in the families have been given in each class
of tenement, in the belief that such data should be taken into consideration in gauging
theoretical overcrowding, the standard of which is any excess of an average of two persons
(irrespective of their ages) per room. It is customary to count two children under 10 as
equivalent to one adult for legal overcrowding. The data available are too few for any
generalisation, but they do suggest that the theoretical overcrowding shown by the figures
is not of very material importance. The fact that 113 of the 132 persons who died at home
shared bedrooms, and 87 shared beds with other members of their families, are of more weight
than the theoretical overcrowding disclosed in the table. Of legal overcrowding there was
none.
The knowledge of the infectiousness of the sputum and of the need of proper precautions
as to its disposal appears to be spreading. The Inspectors reported that in 13 cases (out of
132 deaths) there was no sputum, while 88 of the remainder (119) were aware of its
infectiousness, proper precautions being taken in 77 instances.
In 46 of the 146 houses to which the 149 deaths were allocated, previous 70 deaths from
pulmonary tuberculosis occurred between 1891 and 1908, viz. :
1 death at each of 30 houses,
2 deaths „ 12 „ and
4 4
In addition three deaths from other forms of tuberculosis were recorded at three houses
(one at each) during the same period.