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Parish of st. George the Martyr, Southwark.
The following incident in the course of the epidemic is worthy of note:—
One of the patients I found sitting in the disinfector and the second in the
passage dormitory within a few feet of another inmate. Whilst examining and
notifying this latter case last week between 1 and 2 a.m. the infected inmate made
his escape into the interior of the shelter. Having taken careful note of the man,
I asked permission of the superintendent to allow me to enter the shelter and
isolate the man. This request was met with a flat refusal, and the man was left to
infect his neighbours.
Special Report on the Blackfriars Salvation Army
Shelter Prosecution*
TO THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE VESTRY.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
You will naturally expect a few words from me as your Medical Officer of
Health, upon the important police-court prosecution lately undertaken by your Vestry
against the superintendent of the Salvation Army Shelter in the Blackfriars Road.
First of all the Vestry may be congratulated upon the fact that a danger to the
common safety, although not altogether abolished, has nevertheless been brought
nearer a proper sanitary control. In this way the Vestry of St. George the Martyr
has carried out a public-spirited policy which deserves the thanks of every local
authority in London.
The history of the facts which led up to the Blackfriars prosecution is simple.
For three years past I have called attention, in my annual reports, to the dangers
arising from the presence of these over-crowded and ill-regulated pseudo-charities in
your midst. The dangers in question may be divided under two heads, according
to their injurious effect.
(1st) Directly on inmates of the shelter.
(2nd) Indirectly, on the outside public.
Copies of the reports dealing with these points have been duly laid before
the Local Government Board and the London County Council. In 1893 the
Government sent Dr. Airy to inspect the Metropolitan Night Shelters, but his
report has not been made public, neither has the Local Government Board, so
far as I know in my official capacity, taken any further steps in the matter, nor
has the London County Council interfered. This was the position of affairs in
the summer of the present year, when an outbreak of small-pox occurred in your
parish, and out of 44 cases no less than nine were traced directly to the Shelter. I
thereupon applied one night at the Shelter for admission, which was refused, and I
then drew the attention of the Committee to the occurrence. I was next instructed
by your Committee to apply to the local magistrate for a warrant to enter the Shelter
on the night of the 8th July. As a result of that visit your Committee obtained a
summons asking for prohibition against future over-crowding. After a protracted
hearing, extending over four months, the magistrate (Mr. Slade) granted the
order asked for, and stated that, personally, he would not regard the presence of anything
under 550 inmates as overcrowding. It is worthy of note that despite the
strong assertions of defendant's counsel in the course of the trial, no appeal has been
made against the decision of the magistrate.
It may be well to add a few remarks upon the scientific evidence furnished in
Court. The chemist who acted for your Vestry found 75 parts of carbonic-acid gas
per 10,000 of air, in what was known as the "two-penny overflow bunk room,''
* See report to Vestry July 30th, 1895.