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182
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1910.
Investigation
of
charges
against
mi
Charges of malpractice, negligence or misconduct on the part of two midwives were investigated
during the year, with the result that the Central Midwives Board were informed that in one
instance a prima facie case of negligence and misconduct, and in the other of misconduct, had been
established, but the Board had not during the period covered by this report, announced its decision with
regard to the charges.
Suspensions—con
victions.
Number of
midwives
practising
in the
administrative
county
of London.
Notification
of provisions
of the
Midwives
Act.
It was not round necessary during the year to suspend any midwife from practice nor was any
midwife in the county convicted of an offence.
During the year ended 31st December, 1910, 529 midwives notified to the Council their intention
of practising within the county during the year ; and, in addition to these, 10 notices were received
from persons who had acted as midwives on specific occasions, and 32 notices from midwives who
intended to practise within the county during periods shorter than a year. A list of these notices
was in due course sent to the Central Midwives Board.
Before 1st April, 1910, a woman who was not certified under the Midwives Act, 1902, was not
prohibited from attending cases of childbirth, providing she did not take or use the title of midwife
or any title of a similar nature ; but on that date sub-section 2 of section 1 of the Act came into operation.
This sub-section prohibits a woman who is not certified under the Act from habitually and for
gain attending women in childbirth, legally qualified medical practitioners and persons rendering
assistance in cases of emergency being exempted from the operation of the section. It appeared
desirable that the provisions of the sub-section should be known as widely as possible, and with this
intention the Council on 8th February, 1910, decided to give notice by public advertisement of the
altered state of the law.
Deficit of
Central
Midwives
Board.
Enrolment
of untrained
women.
The accounts of the Central Midwives board showed an adverse balance tor the year 1909,
and the Council was called upon in June, 1910, to pay a sum of £73 17s. lId. as its proportion of this
deficit.
From the evidence given before the Departmental Committee appointed by the Lord President
of the Council to consider the working of the Midwives Act, it appeared probable that in the county
generally there would in certain districts be an insufficient number of certified midwives to fill the
vacancies caused by the withdrawal from practice of uncertificated persons in consequence of the provisions
of sub-section 2 of section 1 of the Act. In these circumstances an Order in Council was
issued on 14th March, 1910, authorising the Central Midwives Board to enrol without examination
women who had been in practice for a year before the passing of the Act, provided they made application
before 30th September, 1910. In the opinion of the Council there was no necessity for the
admission of untrained women to the roll so far as the administrative county of London was concerned,
and a communication to this effect was made to the Central Midwives Board.
Health
visitors.
Eleven metropolitan borough councils, viz., Battersea, Bermondsey, Finsbury, Hammersmith,
Hampstead, Kensington, Poplar, Shoreditch, Stepney, Stoke Newington and Woolwich, made
application to the Council for a contribution of one-half of the salaries of health visitors appointed
by them. The Council decided in each case to make the contribution asked for subject to the following
condition, among others, viz., that the contributions are dependent on there being sufficient surplus
on the exchequer contribution account to enablep ayments to be made after making provision for the
discharge of the existing statutory charges on that account in full.
Common
lodginghouses.
Applications were received for licences to keep and use, as common lodging houses, 308 premises
in the County of London, and licences were granted in respect of 307 of these premises, the application
for the remaining licence being withdrawn. One person was convicted for having kept an unlicensed
common lodging-house and was fined £5 Is. with £10 12s. costs, and two licensed keepers were fined
£5 15s. with £1 9s. costs for having infringed the Council's by-laws.
Seamen's
lodging-
houses.
On 3rd January, 1910, the Board of Trade gave its confirmation to the new series of by-laws
which the Council had made for regulating the conduct of seamen's lodging-houses.
An order in Council was issued on 19th February, 1910, prohibiting the keeping of a seamen's
lodging-house in the administrative county of London by any person who was not licensed by the
Council. During the year licences have been granted in respect of 58 premises and in 7 instances
the Council has refused to licence premises. The use, as seamen's lodging-houses, of 10 licensed premises
was subsequently discontinued.
Legal proceedings were instituted in 10 instances on account of breaches of the by-laws, with
the result that 9 convictions were obtained, fines amounting to a total of £49 16s. being inflicted, with
£7 4s. costs. Prosecutions were also undertaken against 5 persons for keeping unlicensed seamen's
lodging-houses. In each case a conviction followed and fines amounting to £27, with £6 9s. costs, were
inflicted.
Nuisances.
During the year 298 complaints were made to the Council under the public Health (London)
Act, 1891, as to insanitary conditions or failures in sanitary administration. Of these complaints
178 were anonvmous.
Flies and
vermin.
During the summer months of 1907 and 1908 investigations were made into the extent to
which nuisance from flies is caused by accumulations of offensive matter, and reports as to the results
were submitted to the Council. These investigations were continued in 1909 and the results embodied
in a further report. This report also contained particulars as to the prevalence of vermin in common
lodging houses.
Offensive
businesses—
knackers'
yards,
slaughter
houses, cow
houses and
dairies.
In pursuance of the authority conferred upon the Council by section 19 of the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, sanction was on 22nd February, 1910, given to the establishment anew of the business
of a fat melter, and on 1st November, 1910, certain premises were removed from the register, the right
to carry on fat melting thereat having lapsed. During the year the Council also took proceedings,
under the provisions of section 100 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, in default of a metropolitan
borough council, against a person for having established anew the business of a fellmonger