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There is a third room used for storing disinfectants. The walls of each room are lined internally with
glazed brickwork. The apparatus is an Equifex steam disinfecting oven. At this station the disinfecting
assistant who brings the articles places them into the apparatus ; they are removed by a different
assistant on the disinfected side.
At the wharf in Belvedere-road, there is a furnace for the destruction of articles.
For conveyance to and from the disinfecting stations, four vans are provided, two for infected
and two for disinfected articles. These are kept at the wharf.
It is stated that provision (£500) has been made in the estimates of the vestry for replacing the
apparatus at the wharf by one of a recent type.
(b) Rooms.—Rooms are disinfected by burning sulphur, or if the householder desires it chlorine
gas is used. In every case notice is served to strip paper off walls and to cleanse and whitewash, and
if the preliminary notice is not complied with, and it is considered necessary, owing to the room being
in a dirty condition or to the patient having been treated at home, further steps are taken to get
the notice carried out. In cases of small-pox or typhus the stripping of walls and cleansing is done
at once by men employed by the vestry.
In all cases instructions are given to householders to wash and cleanse furniture and woodwork.
No charge is ever made for disinfection.
A small proportion of certificates from medical practitioners is still received by the sanitary
authority in each year stating that disinfection has been satisfactorily carried out. Thus during last
year (1897), certificates were forwarded in regard to 169 cases out of a total of 2,663 notified cases of
infectious disease. A special form of certificate provided by the sanitary authority is obtained in each
of these cases.
Temporary shelter.—For the purpose of providing persons with accommodation during the
disinfection of their rooms, the vestry have reserved four rooms on the top floor of the house adjoining
their wharf. The entrance is from the wharf. Two of the rooms are furnished as living rooms with
kitchen stoves, tables and crockery, and two as bathrooms and lavatories. No sleeping accommodation
is provided. There are two waterclosets. There is no permanent caretaker, but one is obtained
when required.
Battersea.
(a) Articles of clothing and bedding.—The sanitary authority have not yet provided a steam
disinfecting apparatus for the use of the district. If it is considered necessary that clothes or
bedding in any case of infectious disease should be disinfected by steam, a contractor (Messrs.
Lacey and Co.) is employed for the purpose. In only a small proportion, probably about 1 per
cent., of cases is this done, as it is considered sufficient disinfection in the majority of cases to
leave bedding and clothing exposed in the room while this is undergoing fumigation. The cost of
steam disinfection is generally not more than £40 a year. The erection of a disinfecting station is
now, however, under the consideration of the vestry.
(b) Rooms.—These are disinfected by burning sulphur after closely sealing up all crevices and
openings, but when the infection is considered to be of a virulent type corrosive sublimate is burnt
together with the sulphur. The amounts used are 1½ pounds of sulphur and 1 ounce of corrosive
sublimate to every 1,000 cubic feet of space, and the disinfection is nearly always completed before
night time so that the room is only closed for some six or eight hours. The stripping of walls or the
cleansing of rooms is never done by the sanitary authority, but if the room is in a dirty condition
notice is served to cleanse.
No charge is ever made for disinfection.
There occur in each year a small number of cases in which disinfection is carried out privately
under the superintendence of medical practitioners, and certified by them as having been done
satisfactorily.
Temporary shelter.—No accommodation for this purpose exists. Its provision is under consideration
in connection with the proposed erection of a new mortuary.
Wandsworth.
The district under the jurisdiction of the Wandsworth Board of Works is divided into four subdistricts,
for each of which there are separate local committees, separate staffs of officers, except as
regards the inspection under the Food and Drugs Acts, and separate arrangements for administration.
The sub-districts are—
Clapham. Wandsworth.
Streatham and Tooting. Putney.
Clapham Sub-District—
(a) Articles of clothing and bedding.—Arrangements have been made with a contractor (Messrs.
Lacey and Co., of Fulham) for disinfection of articles by steam, and for bringing them to and from
houses. This is done in different vans.
(b) Rooms.—These are disinfected by men employed by the sanitary authority. The practice
adopted is fumigation by means of burning sulphur. Notice is served in nearly every case to strip
walls and to cleanse rooms, and this is generally complied with, but if not the work is done by the
authority; thus, during the last year (1897) out of 324 rooms disinfected, in 67 instances the work
was carried out by the district board. If the room has been re-papered and cleansed shortly before
the illness, and the patient is at once removed to hospital, the stripping of walls and cleansing is not
enforced. In all cases instructions are given to householders to wash woodwork and furniture, but in
cases of smallpox this is done bv officers of the authority with a solution of corrosive sublimate (1 in
1,500).
No charge is ever made for disinfection.
Certificates from medical practitioners as to disinfection having been carried out to their satisfaction
are received in many cases, so far as relates to rooms, but the disinfection of articles of bedding
and clothing in such cases is generally carried out by the sanitary authority.