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224 Annual Report of the London County Council, 1913.
CHAPTER XXXIV,
Public Health.
Many important duties devolve on the Council in relation to public health. These duties are
set forth in various Acts of Parliament, the principal Act being the Public Health (London) Act, 1891.
This Act authorises the Council to deal with offensive businesses, to make orders adding to the list of
infectious diseases notifiable under the Act, and to license slaughterhouses, cowhouses and knackers'
yards. The Council is also empowered to take proceedings with respect to nuisance caused by a
sanitary authority in removing, treating or disposing of house or street refuse, and to act in default
when a sanitary authority fails to carry out its statutory duties. The Act also empowers the Council
to make by-laws for regulating (a) the conduct of offensive businesses, and the structure of the premises
on which they are being carried on ; (b) the removal or carriage of offensive or noxious matter or liquid ;
(c) the removal and disposal of refuse, etc. ; and (d) the construction, etc., of water-closets, earth closets,
privies, cesspools and receptacles for dung. The Council is also required under the Act to pay half
the salaries of local medical officers of health and sanitary inspectors, and may make representations
to the Local Government Board as to the number of sanitary inspectors appointed. Copies of all
periodical reports of medical officers of health must be supplied to the Council, and in the event of any
medical officer failing to carry out this requirement the Council may refuse to contribute towards his
salary. The Council is authorised by section 6 of the London County Council (General Powers) Act,
1908, to contribute towards the salary of a health visitor appointed by a metropolitan borough council
any sum not exceeding one-half of such salary. In addition to the powers which the Council possesses
under the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, to deal with offensive businesses, section 9 of the London
County Council (General Powers) Act, 1908, authorises the Council to make by-laws for regulating the
conduct of the businesses of a fish curer, vendor of fried fish, and rag-and-bone dealer. Further,
under Part VIII. of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1903, the Council is authorised
to license premises for receiving horses for slaughter or dead horses. The supervision and licensing
of common lodging-houses devolves upon the Council under the Common Lodging Houses Acts, 1851,
and 1853, and the London County Council (General Powers) Acts, 1902 and 1907. In addition, the
Council licenses seamen's lodging-houses and enforces the by-laws with regard thereto made by it under
section 214 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894. Powers with regard to safeguarding the purity of
London's milk supply are given under various Orders and Acts, and are as follows Under the Dairies,
Cowsheds and Milkshops Orders of 1885, 1886 and 1899, the Council has power to secure the proper
lighting, ventilation, cleansing, drainage and water supply of cowsheds and dairies and the sanitary
condition of milk stores and milkshops. The Orders also forbid, under penalties, the use, for human
food, of milk from a diseased cow or from a cow with tubercular disease of the udder; under Part V.
of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1904, the Council is empowered to seize and
slaughter, on payment of compensation to the owner, any cow in a London cowshed suspected of
tuberculosis of the udder; under part IV. of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1907,
the Council is authorised to take within and outside the county and examine samples of milk entering
London; to proceed to the place from which any sample proving tuberculous was sent to London ;
to examine the cows thereat, and, if any are found affected with tuberculosis of the udder, to prohibit
the sending into London of further supplies of milk therefrom. The Act also contains provisions for
the isolation of cows suffering from tuberculosis of the udder and for notice to be given of such cows
to the Council's medical officer.
In addition to the duties enumerated above, Part IV. of the London County Council (General
Powers) Act, 1904, and Part III. of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1909, authorise
the Council to represent to the Local Government Board when a sanitary authority has made default
in carrying out its duties in regard to the purifying and cleansing of articles and premises and to
the accommodation for the storage of food.
The majority of the Council's powers and duties referred to above do not extend to the City
of London, and, in the matter of the examination of milk under Part IV. of the London County
Council (General Powers) Act, 1907, the Council has powers in the City concurrent with those of the
City Corporation.
On 19th December, 1912, the Local Government Board issued the Public Health (Tuberculosis)
Regulations, 1912. These regulations, which came into operation on 1st February, 1913, consolidate
and in some respects amend the previous regulations of 1908 and 1911 (two) which related to the
notification of cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. The most important change effected by the new
regulations is that cases of tuberculosis of all kinds must be notified to the local medical officer of
health by the medical practitioner who detects the case. The Local Government Board in its circular
letter forwarding copies of the new regulations stated that more than half of the deaths from nonpulmonary
tuberculosis were of children under five years of age and that it was probable that a much
higher percentage of persons suffering from non-pulmonary tuberculosis were children of this age.
The Board, therefore, expressed the hope that the notification of these cases would facilitate the
investigation of sources of infection and assist in securing improvement in the conditions under which
the children lived. The duty of taking preventive measures devolves in London upon the local
medical officers of health. Each of these officers is also required to send weekly to the county
medical officer of health a statement of every notification received by him under the regulations.
Powers and
duties of the
Council.
Notification
of tuberculosis.