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Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
3 Medical attendant's certificate of readiness for final disinfection.
4 M.O.H.'s certificate for employees of disinfection of premises and
articles contained therein.
5 M.O.H.'s special form of application for removals to Asylums
Board.
G Notification form of Asylums Board.
7 Special notice to owners re infection, as required by Sec. G2 Pub.
Health (Lond.) Act, 1891.
8 Public notice of precautions for preventing spread of small-pox.
Personally, I quite recognise that in certain respects the keeping of more books
would be an advantage, so far as it can be done without taking up time which might
be more usefully spent in visiting and other duties of my office. At the same time I
may say that lately I have been deprived of the services of the clerk who formerly did
much of the clerical work required in the Sanitary Department. Moreover, I have
often found the possession of books most undesirable when giving evidence in Court,
as they may be demanded by the opposing counsel, and afford him information he
would not otherwise have possessed. For this reason I have to some extent trusted to
the notes of visits taken by my Sanitary Inspectors, which should invariably mention
the fact when I have been present. However, the question of additional books is one
for the Vestry to decide.
In one passage the Sub-Committee ascribe my inability to state whether or not I
had visited Pardoner Street to the absence of books. That does not represent the real
state of affairs. I may remind the Vestry that the name of the street in question
—formerly Henry Street—was altered some years since, but it is still very generally
called by its former name. At the meeting of the Sub-Committee I was asked, without
previous notice, whether I had visited Pardoner Street. Not recognising the name for
the moment I was unable to say whether I had or had not, been there. That answer
was recorded, and although a little later I explained to the Chairman my position, and
requested him to amend my answer, he nevertheless refused to do so. I, therefore,
submit that when the Report says I was "unable to say that I had visited" [page 3]
the spot in question, it is hardly making a correct statement. As a matter of fact, I
visited the place mentioned on two occasions. Moreover, during my week's absence
at the British Medical Association Meeting at Carlisle, my Deputy, Dr. Walter Smith,
paid more than one visit to Pardoner Street. The same gentleman acted for me after
I left for my annual holiday on the 16th August. Deducting these two periods, then,
there are six cases of scarlet fever and one of diphtheria which were certified to me personally.
Of those seven cases I visited two.
In the absence of a copy of evidence it is impossible to enter into many of the
statements put forward by the Sub-Committee. It speaks, however, of a mattress being
used to close a chimney during sulphuration, and that appears to have actually occurred.
I have received from a member of the Sub-Coinmittee a letter acknowledging that she
had made an error in her assertions as to another alleged occurrence of a similar kind.
In the absence of the evidence upon which the Sub-Committee acted, I am able to
point out the following material inaccuracies in the lieport. On page 3 it is stated of
two diphtheria cases, described, by the way, as a "group," that one child was removed
on July 25th, and another was removed on July 28th. I have the evidence of Dr.
Massie, the medical attendant, to prove that both those statements are wrong. Neither
one of the children was removed to the hospital. One died at home on July 29th, and
the other recovered at home from the diphtheria, but died in the early part of
September at St. Thomas's Hospital.
As a result of this inquiry the Sub-Committee will probably realise that the