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68 Annual Report of the London County Council, 1913.
Proceedings before the magistrate were instituted in 15 cases resulting in 4 convictions, the
penalties amounting to £25 with £4 16s. costs. In only two of the cases were proceedings necessary
in respect of licensed houses. Of the eleven unsuccessful cases, one was dismissed, the evidence
adduced on behalf of the Council being in the magistrate s opinion insufficient to prove that the lodgers
found on the premises had been at sea within four weeks in accordance with the definition of
"seamen" in the by-laws. This definition is as follows :—
"'Seaman' means any male person other than the holder of a certificate of competency
or service as master, mate, or engineer, in the merchant service who, within four weeks immediately
preceding the date of any transaction or occurrence within the scope of these by-laws
has been employed in any capacity whatsoever on board a ship"
As the evidence in the remaining ten cases was of a precisely similar nature to that in the case
dismissed, the summonses were not proceeded with.
The difficulty of enforcing compliance with the Order in Council of February, 1910, which provides
that none but duly licensed persons may keep seamen's lodging houses or let lodgings to seamen
within the administrative County of London without a licence, is a real one, for to secure a conviction
the Council's officers have not only to prove that the lodgers are seamen within the ordinary acceptation
of the term, but that such seamen have been employed on board a ship within a period of four weeks.
No cases of infectious disease were reported among inmates of seamen's lodging houses during
the year.
Cleansing of Persons Act, 1897, etc.
The Cleansing of Persons Act, 1897, provides " that any local authority shall have the power when
in their discretion they shall see fit, to permit any person who shall apply to the said authority on the
ground that he is infested with vermin to have the use, free of charge, of the apparatus (if any) which
the authority possesses for cleansing the person and his clothing from vermin."' It is also provided
that the use of such apparatus shall not be considered to be parochial relief or charitable allowance,
and local authorities may expend any reasonable sum on buildings, appliances, etc., required for
carrying out the Act. The Act, however, is a permissive one only. For several years the metropolitan
borough councils, with some few exceptions, took very little action under the provisions of this
Act, and so recently as 1906 except in boroughs like St. Marylebone, St. Pancras and Poplar, there
was little progress to record.
It was recognised, however, in dealing with verminous persons and more particularly in the case of
children, that the cleansing of the individual could be of little service unless accompanied by the cleansing
of the home and the purification of articles of furniture and clothing. The London County Council,
therefore, in its General Powers Bill of 1904 inserted clauses empowering local authorities to cleanse,
purify, or destroy articles which the medical officer of health certifies are filthy, dangerous, or unwholesome.
In addition, power was obtained to compel owners to strip and cleanse any house or part of a
house certified by the medical officer of health to be infested with vermin. These clauses became law
and have been increasingly used, so that during the year 1913 more than 100,000 articles of clothing
and bedding are recorded as having been freed from vermin, and if the exact figures were obtainable
it would probably be found that twice this number of articles was dealt with. During the last three
years, moreover, an average number exceeding 10,000 rooms a year received the attention of the borough
councils on account of their verminous condition.
A further impetus was given to this work by the passing of the London County Council (General
Powers) Act of 1907. This Act contained clauses empowering the Council, as Education Authority to
make arrangements for the cleansing of school children, and as supervising authority for the cleansing
of the inmates of common lodging houses. In both cases power was obtained to detain and convey
to suitable premises for the purpose of cleansing any person failing to comply with a twenty-four hours'
notice. Section 38 of the Act expressly provided that the Council might enter into agreements with
local authorities possessing suitable stations for the cleansing of school children and inmates of common
lodging houses, and incidentally this section has been the means of securing a considerable extension
throughout London of the facilities for deansing which were first provided after the passing of the
Cleansing of Persons Act, 1897.
Almost immediately following the General Powers Act of 1907, the Children Act, 1908, was
passed. This Act also gave power to cleanse when necessary elementary school children, and,
indeed, in some respects afforded greater facility of action than the Council's Act. In London, therefore,
Section 122 of the Children Act has been mainly used, but it has been supplemented by the
powers obtained in 1907.
From this brief statement it will be seen that considerable attention has of recent years been
directed to this most important question of personal hygiene. The development of the Council's scheme
for securing the cleanliness of school children is fully discussed in Part II. (Education) of this report,
and it will only be necessary here to summarise the results of the action taken by the several borough
councils. With very few exceptions, all the London boroughs have now made provision for personal
cleansing, and most of the annual reports of medical officers of health contain information as to the action taken.
Cleansing of
Persons Act,
1897.
General
Powers Acfc,
1904. sects.
19,20, 21,24.
General
Powers Act
1907, sects.
36-40.
Children
Act, 1908.
Sect. 122.