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During the year the homes of some 1,315 children, 747 boys and 568 girls,
notified by the School Medical Officer as being verminous were visited with a
view to steps being taken by the Sanitary Authority under the London County
Council (General Powers) Act, 1901, Part IV., for dealing with the homes, bedding
and clothing where necessary, the children themselves having been cleansed at
the County Council's Cleaning Stations in the neighbourhood of the Borough.
In many instances the same children were notified more than once as being
verminous. Intimations as to the service of statutory notices on parents to cleanse
the persons of the children within 21 hours were received in respect to 151, and
farther intimations as to the institution of police court proceedings in respect to 75
children under Section 122 of the Children Act, 1908. In consequence a number
of the homes were dealt with by the Sanitary Authority on more than one occasion.
In all cases the houses were visited by the Sanitary Officers and the following
summarises the results of the inspections made In 958 the rooms occupied were
clean or in fair condition, in 150 they were dirty, in 81 they were buggy, and in
123 they were both dirty and infested with bugs. In 879 the bedding was clean
or fairly so, in 336 it was dirty, in 33 it was buggy and in 67 it was dirty and
buggy. In 122 instances the bedding showed evidence of lice, i.e., the lice or nits
being observed. Where lice were found the bedding was usually dirty and
otherwise verminous, but this was not always the case as in a few instances the
bedding appeared clean. In 10 cases mothers attributed the presence of lice to the
use of second hand clothing which had been purchased for the children. In 197
instances the home was markedly infested with fleas. Overcrowding was nosed in
68 cases and in 105 evidence of poverty was markedly apparent in the home. In
181 instances there was evidence of recent efforts to cleanse, probably in most
cases in expectation of the visit of the Sanitary Inspector. In 41 there was
difficulty in gaining admission to inspect, in some cases as many as six or seven
visits had to be made before inspection could be carried out, and in 9 instances
twenty-four hour notices had to be given of the Sanitary Inspector's intention to
apply to a Magistrate for an order to enter the dwelling. Altogether the Inspectors
had to make 155 visits before they were able to satisfy themselves as to the
conditions of these 41 homes when 41 visits should have sufficed. It is also to be
mentioned that there were 207 children notified whose addresses were erroneous ;
in 92 they were not known at the addresses stated on the intimations, in 72 they
had left the addresses, in 16 there were no such addresses in the Borough and in
27 the addresses were those of unoccupied houses. It may be noted that evidence
of lice was found in the bedding in about 9 per cent. of the cases notified. The
visits of the Sanitary Inspectors resulted in a large amount of cleansing and
disinfection both of bedding, clothing and homes being carried out and also
brought to light a number of insanitary conditions which were remedied.
Altogether some 363 sanitary notices were served in connection with the work
arising from the visits made by the Inspectors in consequence of the intimations
received from the School Medical Officer.