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Vaccination.
82.—A Conference of Metropolitan Borough Councils, convened
by the Battersea Borough Council, with reference
to the proposed transfer to the Borough Councils
of the powers and duties of Boards of Guardians in connection
with vaccination, was held at the Municipal Buildings,
Lavender Hill, S.W., on the 5th February; Councillors Gay
and Robinson, and the Medical Officer of Health, the representatives
appointed by this Council, attended, and resolutions
were passed to the effect that it was desirable that the
powers and duties of Metropolitan Boards of Guardians in connection
with vaccination should be transferred to the Borough Councils,
seeing that the latter are responsible for the administration of the
Public Health Acts, and asking the Local Government Board to
take the necessary steps with a view to effecting an amendment of
the law in the direction indicated.
Tuberculosis.
83.—A Meeting of the British Congress on Tuberculosis was held
at the Queen's Hall, Langham Palce, on the 27th
July, 1901 ; Councillor Gay and the Medical Officer
of Health attended on behalf of the Council.
84.—It was resolved that tuberculosis sputum is the main agent for
the conveyance of the viius of tuberculosis from man to man, and
that indiscriminate spitting should be suppressed; that in the
opinion of the Congress all public hospitals and dispensaries should
present every patient suffering from phthisis with a leaflet containing
instructions with regard to the prevention of consumption;
that the voluntary notification of cases of phthisis had been
attended by a promising measure of success ; and that the extension
of notification should be encouraged; that the provision of
sanatoria is an indispensable part of the measures necessary for
the diminution of tuberculosis; that Medical Officers of Health
should continue to use all the powers at their disposal, and relax
no effort to prevent the spread of tuberculosis by meat and milk;
and that, in the opinion of the Congress, overcrowding, defective
ventilation, damp, and general insanitary conditions in the houses
of the working classes diminish the chance of curing consumption
and aid in predisposing to and spreading the disease,