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The mcdical officer of health of Chelsea reports:—
It would appear to be desirable to grant facilities at the Lots-road disinfecting station, for the cleansing of
school children and the disinfection of their clothing; but it seems unnecessary to take such steps in the case of children
affected by head vermin only, as these can be cured by appropriate measures to the heads of the children, which can
be applied by the mothers, under the direction of the school nurse."
The medical officer of health of Westminster states in this connection that the London County
Council was informed that:—
"The City Council have under consideration plans of a new disinfecting station in the south-western part of
the City, and have included therein certain accommodation for dealing with this class of case ; that the proposed station
will be situated at the extreme end of the City boundary, and obviously could only be of use so far as children are concerned,
to such as live in the neighbourhood ; that the Council would be pleased to allow the officials of the London
County Council who are dealing with this matter, to inspect the plans in order that they may see what it is proposed
to do, with a view to seeing if the accommodation would be serviceable for the requirements of the County Council;
that it is not thought desirable that children should be brought to the same place to be cleansed as persons from
common lodging-houses; that the Council note that the County Council have to provide means for the cleansing of
both classes of persons, and it is not thought that the proposed new station would be convenient for the use of the class
of person from common lodging-houses, which are mostly located in the St. John and Strand Wards of the City ;
that if the County Council desire to utilise the proposed new station, it might be available for school children in the
neighbourhood; that the City Council might consider if they would retain, for the use of the County Council for the
inmates of the common lodging-houses near by, the existing disinfecting station with the shelter at the Coroner's
Court, Horse ferry-road, which it was originally intended to remove, if the County Council think that it would be
suitable for their requirements, but that it would not be desirable for school children to use these premises for
cleansing purposes."
The medical officer of health of Stepney states that "the Public Health Committee recommended
the Council:—
''(a) to inform the London County Council that this Council are of opinion that the execution of the provisions
of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1907, should be undertaken by the London County Council and
the cost spread over the whole metropolis; (b) to suggest to the London County Council that probably arrangements
could be made with the several Boards of Guardians in the borough for dealing with the adults and children at the
casual wards, the costs being deirayed out of the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund; (c) to inform the London County
Council that this Council has no facilities to offer in connection with the carrying into effect of the section of the Act
referred to, as the bathing accommodation at the shelter attached to the mortuary is required in conncction with
infectious diseases and for other purposes connected with the sanitary administration of the Borough.''
The medical officer of health of Poplar reports:—
"There are four baths provided in connection with the shelter, at Bromley Depot, and adjacent to the disinfecting
station, which are also used for persons making application under the Cleansing of Persons Act. The use of
these baths, with all necessary materials, might, the Committee thought, be placed at the disposal of the London
County Council for the purposes required, so far as such baths are not needed for the purposes for which they
were provided. The ublic Health and Housing Committee were of opinion that school children requiring to be
cleansed should be at ended to at these baths by the parents or by a person appointed by the London County
Council. Clothing might at the same time be disinfected by the Borough Council's staff at the disinfecting station."
In his annual report the medical officer of health of Lambeth refers to the expense which would
be incurred by the Borough Council if they afforded facilities for the cleansing of children in Lambeth
as proposed in the London County Council's letter, and he thus writes:—
"To this suggestion, the Lambeth Council objected for the reason mentioned above, and having regard to the
fact that the common lodging-houses and the public elementary schools are both under the jurisdiction and control of
the County Council ; and this objection was given to the County Council in writing on April 3rd, 1908, the limited
accommodation at present at the disposal of the Borough Council for cleansing in connection with infectious diseases
(at Wanless-road and Belvedere-road) being also pointed out."
The medical officer of health of Deptford reports that at the new shelter
"The two bathrooms can be used for the cleansing of verminous persons."
The medical officer of health of Camberwell writes that
"It will be remembered that this Council decided to allow the children whose heads had been found by the
school nurse to be in a verminous condition, to use our disinfection station under the superintendence of our own officers.
An amount has been expended on this work which really should be borne by the London County Council. If the work
is to grow at the rate at which it has been doing during the last year, the present arrangements at the Peckham-parkroad
Depot, which were originally intended for the voluntary cleansing of adults, will be found to be totally inadequate.
As it is, it is worked with a certain amount of difficulty owing to the structural conditions, and to the lack of sufficient
means for the heating of the bath water. At present the supply of this commodity has to be supplemented by one of
the staff being employed to carry it over from the disinfecting machine, a procedure inadvisable and wasteful of time."
The medical officer of Battersea refers to the increase in the numbers of persons attending the
personal cleansing station, and thus writes:—
"The growing popularity of the station has become embarrassing, the accommodation provided proving inadequate
to cope with the work. The station is, in addition, unsuitable in other respects for the purpose, and the time
has arrived when it is absolutely necessary to make other arrangements. The subject has been under the consideration
of the Health Committee for some time. A considerable use has been made of the station by the children attending
the public elementary schools, and the duty of enforcing the cleansing of these children devolves on the London County
Council, as the education authority under the provisions of the Children Act, 1908. The Act which comes into force
on the 1st April, 1909, empowers the London County Council for this purpose to make use of the apparatus, etc., of the
local sanitary authority, on terms to be agreed on. The Committee have recommended the Council to approach the
London County Council before extending the present station, with the object of ascertaining the extent to which they
(the County Council) would be prepared to contribute to the expense of the station. This the Council resolved to do
and negotiations are still pending.''
The medical officer of health of Hackney refers to the facilities which exist in Hackney for
the cleansing of verminous persons and states that the Borough Council resolved:—
"That the London County Council be informed that this Council is prepared to afford them the above facilities
for the purpose of dealing with persons in a verminous condition, provided that this Council is not called upon to incur
any additional expenditure thereby."