View report page

79
after its birth. About a fortnight afterwards I became
aware of the woman having had Small Pox, and inquired
after the infant which I was told had lived a week.
I found the death had not been registered, and no cause
of death, therefore, assigned, and upon making inquiries,
I discovered that the infant had been certified by the
medical attendant as a still bom child, and buried without
any ceremony or precaution. I immediately reported
the matter to the registrar, who, ultimately, obtained
a certificate with the cause of death given as Small Pox.
The father of this infant was a dairyman, and carrying
on his business during the whole time. This case needs
no comment. In almost every case of Small Pox,
removal to Hospital was effected as quickly as possible,
and the house and its contents thoroughly disinfected.
In carrying out these precautions after infectious cases, the
value of the disinfecting oven acquired by the Parish, as
mentioned in last year's report, has been fully appreciated.
No other method is to be depended on for securing
immunity from danger in the after use of infected bedding,
&c. Some of the cases were not removed to Hospital,
either from conditions, such as in the case quoted above,
or from the disease being too far advanced when discovered.
One case occurred in which a direct refusal was given to
allow removal. This leads me to urge the necessity for
more summary power in dealing with such cases among
the lower classes. This may be objected to as class-legislation,
but in matters of such vital importance, we cannot
afford to be punctilious about class-privileges, or to overlcok
the fact that a law is sometimes required for the
illiterate which is not required for the educated classes.
The somewhat rare case of two families occupying the
same house is the only one in which removal can be affected
by force, and even then only by the order of a magistrate
or justice, which cannot be had probably until the time for
its use has passed. A certificate signed by two qualified
medical men, one of whom should be the Medical Officer
of Health, stating the case to be urgent and fit for removal,
might be the ground for insisting upon the removal of a