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74 Annual Report of the London County Council, 1913.
Homeless persons.
With a view to determining the number of homeless persons in London, the Public Health
Committee of the Council has from time to time instructed the medical officer to take a night census of
all the persons found to be taking shelter on staircases or under arches, and to enumerate all people,
obviously unable to provide themselves with a bed, found in the street on the particular night chosen
for the census. Two censuses were undertaken during the year 1913, one on the night of the 4th
February, and one on the night of the 24th October. When the first census of homeless persons was
made, on the night of the 29th January, 1904, the district included for the purpose was necessarily
restricted owing to the experimental nature of the inquiry. From the experience gained on that
occasion, however, it was found possible in 1905 to map out a larger area, roughly approximating to
an ellipse, having its centre at St. Paul's Cathedral, a major axis of eight miles from east to west, and
a minor axis of five miles from north to south. In all succeeding enumerations the same area has been
chosen for exploration and thus it is possible fairly to compare the several results obtained. On every
occasion counting has begun at one o'clock a.m., certain groups of officers working from the centre
outwards, and other groups from the boundary towards the centre of the appointed area. By this
means the possibility of error due to duplication in counting is reduced to a minimum.
The outstanding feature of the comparative table showing the results obtained since the beginning
of the year 1904 (see chapter XXXII.a) is the remarkable fall in the numbers obtained since the year 1910.
This reduction has been accompanied by a decline in the number of persons frequenting common lodging
houses and casual wards. The changes which have been effected in the Poor Law administration have
doubtless contributed in great measure to the reduction in the number of persons recorded as homeless,
but are not in themselves sufficient to account for the total reduction in the numbers of persons dealt
with in the series of reports to which reference is now being made, and it is obvious that the improvement
is due to a combination of circumstances in which the administration of the Poor Law is only one element.
Water supply.
In his eighth annual report Dr. Houston once more comments upon the disadvantages arising
from the absence of the "unrestricted right" to obstract 130 million gallons of water daily from the
River Thames independently of its flow. He points out that in the case of the Thames especially a
drought may mean that the land is able to absorb and purify many active pollutions, whilst the river
is being fed with relatively pure underground water unalloyed with surface drainage.
Further reference is made to the excessive growth of algae in the Staines reservoirs, which caused
considerable trouble in 1912-3. There was a recurrence of this difficulty during the year 1913-4, due
to the excessive development of Asterionella. Tabellaria, the cause of the trouble in 1912—3, was not
present to any marked extent. Filtration was rendered very difficult and it became necessary to treat
the Staines water chemically, and to dilute it largely with raw Thames water, which, fortunately, at
the time, was of exceptionally good quality. The water remained free from appreciable taste during the
whole period.
Dr. Houston again urges the importance of adequate storage of raw water antecedent to filtration
and circulation, and refers to his previous reports for evidence as to the remarkable purifying effect of
storage as measured by the destruction of typical bacillus coli. He states that "the death of B. coli
is as sure and safe an indication to the bacteriologist of the death of the microbes of water-borne disease as,
to take a homely illustration, the death of coarse fish in a water would lead the fisherman to assume the
coincident or previous destruction of the less hardy forms of fish-life, e.g., trout." The main disadvantage
of storage is the likelihood of excessive development of algae from causes not yet understood,
although upon occasion no trouble of this kind has arisen over long periods.
The conclusion arrived at by Dr. Houston is that to a progressively increasing extent the Metropolitan
Water Board is securing the reasonable if not the absolute "safety" of the metropolitan
water supply.
National Insurance Act, 1911. (Treatment of Tuberculosis).
The National Insurance Act, 1911, enables county councils to make provision at the request
of insurance committees for the treatment of insured persons suffering from tuberculosis, provided a
grant under the Finance Act, 1911, is made to such councils by the Treasury. In April, 1912, a departmental
committee which had been appointed to report upon the general policy in respect of the problem
of tuberculosis in the United Kingdom, for the guidance of the Government and the local bodies concerned,
issued an interim report. This report recommended that, for the prevention, detection, and
treatment of the disease, existing public health administration should be supplemented by the establishment
and equipment of two units linked up to the public health and medical work carried on by
the medical officers of health, viz.: (1) the tuberculosis dispensary, and (2) sanatoria and hospitals.
It was suggested that schemes for the whole population, non-insured as well as insured, should be drawn
up by the councils of counties and county boroughs, or by combinations of these bodies, on the lines
recommended in the report. The Local Government Board, in a letter dated 19th October, 1912, asked
the London County Council to make arrangements as a temporary measure with the Metropolitan Asylums
Board for the use of their accommodationfor the sanatorium treatment of insuredpersons, in order to overcome
the difficulty experienced by the London Insurance Committee in securing appropriate accommodation
in consequence of their inability under the terms of the National Insurance Act, 1911, to enter into
agreement with the Metropolitan Asylums Board, owing to the fact of its being a poor law authority.
In submitting this letter to the Council on 5th November, 1912 (page 1,071) the Public Health Committee