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only case in which any permanent injury resulted, one eye w'|ch was
ulcerated having an opacity left when it healed. Two children notified
in other Boroughs came to Westminster; 3 moved from Westminster,
and 2 who were in the Infirmary did not return. Thirteen of the infants
were born in Institutions, 3 were illegitimate, and 3 eventually died.
Transmigrants.—The County Council, in May, 1920, addressed a letter
to the Home Secretary calling his attention to the lack of proper accommodation
provided for aliens travelling from the Continent to America, and
vice versa, while passing through London. The method adopted by the
shipping agents was to house these persons in common lodging houses,
chiefly in the East End of London (similar use was made of one in Westminster).
These places were considered unsuitable, and in addition
the persons housed in them were free to mix with the general public.
In view of the serious menace to the public health occasioned by the
temporary accommodation of transmigrants from countries where typhus
and typhoid, smallpox and other dangerous infectious diseases are
prevalent, it was proposed that suitable buildings should be acquired
for the purpose of housing such persons. The Home Secretary agreed
that it was desirable to protect the public from the dangers involved
in the scattering of alien transmigrants over a large number of common
lodging houses and private premises, and the shipping companies to meet
the views expressed, desired to utilise the vacant workhouse in Poland
Street for housing these people. The City Council refused to agree to this,
on the grounds that the construction of the building was unsuitable
(the Ministry of Health on the report of their Architect had previously
declined to allow the workhouse to be used for the temporary accommodation
of persons dishoused on account of the structural condition, want of
air and light), and that it was undesirable to bring persons coming from
countries in which infectious and contagious diseases were prevalent,
from the port of landing to premises in Central London and to a district
already containing a large foreign element. The City Council suggested
that it would be better to house these people in premises near the point
where they disembark. It was also suggested that the question be considered
whether it is necessary to bring these transmigrants through
London, and whether it would not be possible to dispatch them from
Tilbury or Harwich by special trains to the ports at which they would
re-embark.
It is understood that premises in East Londonhave since been acquired.
Plague and Typhus.—19 persons coming from plague and typhusinfected
countries were kept under observation.