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night was clear and fine. Only 5 persons (all females) were found sheltering under
arches, or on staircases. In the streets 76 males and 37 females were found, as compared
with 61 males and 17 females in 1924, and 296 males and 76 females in 1914,
on the occasion of previous censuses. In the common lodging houses 14,425 persons
were accommodated as compared with 14,165 in 1924, and 20,173 in 1914 before
the war. In the free shelters and labour homes not licensed, 448 males, 118 females
and 23 children were accommodated as compared with 481 males, 118 females and
13 children in 1924. The number of persons in casual wards on the night in question
was 503 (492 males, 9 females and 2 children), the largest number recorded at any
census since 1913. At London Rowton Houses 5,054 men were accommodated,
and there were no vacant beds.
Housing
Acts.
Details as to progress made with the several represented insanitary areas and
the housing schemes undertaken by the Council will be seen on reference to
Chapter XXV. The table on page 7 shows the houses in each borough in 1925;
the number repaired under Section 3 of the Housing Act of 1925; certain other
particulars as to conditions in 1925; and also gives the details of action taken by
the metropolitan borough councils under the provisions of the existing Housing
Acts of 1925 with regard to the making of representations and closing orders
during the vears 1911-14, 1915-19, and 1920-25.
Poultry
slaughtering
Detailed inspections of the premises (which are estimated to number over 100),
subject to the byelaws regulating the business of a slaughterer of poultry, are now
in progress.
The Council's Tuberculosis Scheme.
Tuberculosis.
Dispensary
treatment
of adults and
children.
It may be said that the movement for organised provision for the treatment of
tuberculosis in London commenced about 1909, when a dispensary was established
by a voluntary Committee to serve the boroughs of Kensington and Paddington.
From this Committee evolved the Central Fund for the Prevention of Tuberculosis,
which was established in 1911 and in course of time provided eleven dispensaries
in various parts of London. Concurrently, other voluntary agencies established
dispensaries in two other boroughs.
Compulsory "notification" of the disease developed from 1st January, 1909,
when the Tuberculosis Regulations of 1908 made compulsory notification, to medical
officers of sanitary authorities, of cases of pulmonary tuberculosis occurring amongst
inmates of poor law institutions or amongst persons under the care of district medical
officers. This was followed in March, 1911, by a further order extending compulsory
notification to inmates and out-patients of hospitals. Finally, by the Public Health
(Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1912, compulsory notification, to the Borough Medical
Officer of Health of all cases in which tuberculosis in any form is diagnosed, was
imposed on the medical profession and the local sanitary authorities were required
to take precautionary action against the spreading of infection. A considerable step
forward was taken by the passing of the National Insurance Act, 1911. This Act
included provision, with State assistance, for dealing with the sickness of the
industrial classes, and special powers in respect of the treatment of tuberculosis were
conferred both upon Insurance Committees set up under the Act and upon existing
local authorities.
In consideration of facilities for treatment being extended, by county councils
and county borough councils, including metropolitan boroughs, to all classes of the
community, the Government undertook to pay 50 per cent. of the net cost of treatment
provided for the ininsured population, including dependants of insured persons,
under schemes approved by the Minister of Health. In London, the outcome of the
Act of 1911 and of this decision was the approval by the Minister of Health of the
Tuberculosis Scheme of the Council which was adopted in May, 1914. This scheme
largely followed the lines of the report of the Interdepartmental Committee on