View report page

48
The provision, within, the Borough, of this station has justified
all the predictions as to its value. The important disinfecting work
is now being done far more expeditiously and more satisfactorily than
it has ever been performed before; and the important duties; of cleansing
verminous persons are being fully discharged, whereas, under the
old arrangement is was impossible to induce 50 per cent of such
persons to go to the distant Hackney Station. The following legal
provisions define the powers and duties of the local Sanitary
Authorities in London, with respect to verminous persons and
premises.
The Cleansing of Persons Act 1897, empowers local authorities
to expend any reasonable sum on buildings, appliances and attendants,
and empowered them to permit any persons infested with vermin to
have the use (free of charge) of such, for the purpose of cleansing their
persons and clothing of vermin.
The London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1904,
section 19, empowers the sanitary authorities, upon the certificate
of the Medical Officer of Health that any articles are filthy, dangerous
or unwholesome, to cleanse, purify or destroy such articles; section
20 similarly empowers the sanitary authorities to require owners of
houses to strip, cleanse, etc., rooms or parts of houses, upon the
certificate of the Medical Officer of Health that any house or part
is infested with vermin; section 21 applies section 59 of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, compelling sanitary authorities to provide
means for cleansing, purifying and destroying filthy, dangerous or
unwholesome articles and for the removal thereof, and for the cleansing
of houses infested with vermin. For the purposes of the two preceding
sections of the Act, section 24 gives the sanitary authorities power
of entry for the purpose of carrying out the afore.mentioned sections
and in the interpretation, it is to be observed, that the expression
"house" includes "schools."
The London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1907, by
section 36, empowers the Medical Officer of the London County