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quantities of clothing now being made a great deal of work is being
given out to be done by out-workers at their homes. It becomes
therefore more than ever necessary, in view of the possible danger of
infection to the troops, that great care should be taken to see that the
work is not done in premises where there is infectious disease.
These various duties have thrown a considerable amount of work
upon the Department which has been met by the willing co-operation
of the whole staff—sanitary inspector's, food inspectors, clerks, health
visitors and disinfectors.
The headquarters of seven regiments are in Westminster (Electrical
Engineers, Westminster Dragoons, Queen Victoria Ritles, London
Scottish, Queen's Westminsters, Civil Service, and the City of London
Fusiliers), and extra quarters had to be utilised from time to time for
sleeping, drilling, and for stabling horses. In addition, the Army
Service Corps had a camp in Kensington Gardens for Transport and
Artificers, the Guards had encampments in Green Park and in Prince
Consort Road, and there are a number of guardrooms at railway stations
and elsewhere. A number of sanitary defects have been discovered and
remedied and improvements effected in various directions. All recommendations
made have been accepted and acted upon by the military
authorities, with whom there has been cordial co-operation. Inspection
has been made of food supplied by caterers, and in one instance the
attention of the War Office was drawn to the danger of storing acid fruit
in zinc receptacles, as a number of men were poisoned in this way.
Contractors for the supply of food for the Army have also been
regularly visited, two of these also prepare rations and the quality of
the meat, vegetables, &c., used and the methods employed have been
kept under supervision.
Several Volunteer Defence Corps have been formed, and the
premises where they meet for drill and firing have been looked after in
the same way as those of the regular forces.
A number of private houses, nursing homes and hospitals have been
utilised for wounded soldiers. This has entailed additions and alterations
to make them suitable, and arrangements have also been made for
the daily collection and destruction of soiled dressings, and for the
disinfection of bedding and clothing.
Disinfection has been carried out for verminous conditions of
blankets and clothing among the troops, of horse rugs, &c., for ringworm
and glanders affecting horses. Fortunately there has been very
little infectious disease among the soldiers. It might have been
expected that with the congregating of large numbers of young men,
illness of this sort might readily occur, especially as scarlet fever was
so prevalent in London. In view of the possible importation of smallpox