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were received. In Kensington, no provision has yet been made, the medical officer of health has been
unable to find suitable premises, and has reported that in his opinion the only satisfactory plan would
be to erect a shelter and provide it with a proper equipment; in the meantime the sanitary inspectors
have been authorised to pay for lodgings for people thus dispossessed of their rooms, but the medical
officer of health states that difficulty in finding lodgings is experienced, and that the inspector, having
charge of the disinfecting arrangements, had reported that in many cases the doors of rooms which had
been closed during fumigation had been burst open after he left the premises, with the result that
practically no disinfection was effected. In Fulham, as stated above, no shelter has been provided.
In St. George Hanover-square, the shelter has been used but once, it consists of basement rooms. The
Westminster shelter received 45 families. The Marylebone shelter, which is now open, was used in
some ten months 27 times and received 57 adults and 30 children. The St. Pancras shelter received 20
adults and 19 children during the year. In January last it was decided that sleeping accommodation should
be provided. The Strand shelter was used by several families; the District Board had the year before
addressed a communication to other London sanitary authorities on the question of the repeal of the
statutory requirement that temporary shelters should be provided.
A suitable house for a shelter could not be found in Holborn, the district board therefore
arranged with the Clerkenwell Vestry for the use of the latter's shelter by Holborn inhabitants. In the
City the shelter was used by 31 families, comprising 59 adults and 48 children ; of the 31 families,
21 families had been living in one room and 10 in two rooms. The Shoreditch shelter was used on
seven occasions and received 23 persons. The shelter in St. George-in-the-East was used three times by
13 persons. The St. Saviour District Board has decided to erect a shelter on land to be used also for mortuary,
coroner's court, and disinfecting apparatus. In St.George Southwark, the Local Government Board
has sanctioned a loan for the erection of a shelter. In St. Olave the shelter was used 18 times and received
83 persons, 75 of whom were provided with sleeping accommodation. In Bermondsey efforts were made to
secure suitable premises which could be used as a temporary shelter. " No less than 54 families have
been obliged to vacate their homes while their rooms were being disinfected, and although care has been
taken in all cases to minimise as far as possible the inconvenience to the persons, yet it is evident that
there has been considerable hardship in many instances." The shelter in Lambeth was only opened
towards the end of the year, when two families were admitted. The shelter consists of two sets of two
rooms, each set provided with a bath and lavatory, one of each of the two rooms is fitted with a kitchenrange
and cupboards. The medical officer of health of Greenwich states that " the house has been
partly furnished, and during the year was inhabited by 11 families, Deptford 2, Greenwich 9." The
shelter in Woolwich was used by 13 families, comprising 40 persons. The Plumstead shelter was
used on two occasions, and by 10 persons; it has been decided to build a new shelter which is
approaching completion.
Hospital provision for infectious disease.
The report of the statistical committee of the Metropolitan Asylums Board for the year 1896
states that the managers were able to bring into use during the year the new Brook Hospital at
Shooter's-hill, Woolwich, thus adding 488 beds to the total normal accommodation of their hospitals.
At the Western Hospital works are in progress which, when completed, will raise its accommodation
to a total of 450 beds. The report also states that " the erection of the Park Hospital and the Grove
Hospital ... is being proceeded with as expeditiously as possible, and it is anticipated that the
former will be ready for the reception of patients in the autumn of 1897, and the latter in the following
summer."
" The managers' scheme of hospital provision will then be complete, with the exception of the
reconstruction of the North-Eastern Hospital and the erection of a hospital for convalescent fever
patients on the southern side of London."
" The completion of the scheme . . . will place the managers in the possession of nearly
6,000 beds for infectious diseases other than smallpox."
During the year 1896 the managers removed from their houses to the hospitals of the board
22,417 fever, diphtheria and smallpox patients, and 433 private persons were removed on payment to
other places than the managers' hospitals ; 1,287 patients were taken from the out-patient departments
of general hospitals to their homes owing to there being no vacant beds in the managers' hospitals, and
109 enteric fever patients were removed from their homes to the general hospitals, where arrangements
for their reception had been made by the managers.
Mortuaries.
From the reports of medical officers of health it appears that mortuaries are being more
largely used for the reception of dead bodies pending burial, either from homes where
the accommodation is limited, or because the deceased have died from infectious diseases.
The Paddington mortuary was used on several occasions for the reception of bodies of persons
dying from infectious disease, and the medical officer of health thinks further provision is
necessary. In Kensington the mortuary was used for the reception of 289 bodies, of which 204 bodies
were received either at the request of the coroner or were brought in by the police; of the remaining
85 bodies, 14 were of persons who had died from infectious disease. The Fulham mortuary received
124 bodies, 120 at the request of the coroner or brought in by the police and four were of persons who
had died from infectious disease. Of 135 bodies admitted in the Hammersmith mortuary, 6 were the
bodies of persons who had died from infectious disease and 2 were bodies for which there was no proper
accommodation at home. The erection of a suitable mortuary is under consideration. There were 19
bodies received into the Chelsea mortuary for " sanitary reasons." The number of bodies brought to
the mortuary of St. George, Hanover-square, was 176, of which 28 were brought because there was
insufficient accommodation for them at home. Of 124 bodies admitted into the Westminster mortuary,