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where necessary, sprayed with lysol or fumigated with sulphur fumes as required.
Bedding and textile articles, excluding personal clothing, were removed and
disinfected by the officers of the Borough Council. Th6 number of articles
disinfected are stated on page 31. In the great majority of the cases the steps
taken were the result of information received from the school authorities.
During the year the homes of some 1,738 children, 788 boys and 950 girls,
notified as being verminous by the School Medical Officer, were reported with a
view to steps being taken by the Sanitary Authority under the London County
Council (General Powers) Act, 1904, Part IV., to deal with the homes, bedding
and clothing where necessary, the children themselves having been cleansed at
the County Council's Cleansing Stations in the neighbourhood of the Borough.
In numerous instances the same children were notified as being in a verminous
condition on more than one occasion during the year. Altogether there were
received intimations that 461 boys and 316 girls had been given the
opportunity of being cleansed at the Council's cleansing stations, that in the cases
of 311 boys and 601 girls statutory notices had been served upon the parents to
cleanse the children within 24 hours under Section 122 of the Children Act, 1908,
and that in the cases of 16 boys and 33 girls legal proceedings were to be
instituted for non-compliance with the requirements of the aforesaid statutory
notices. In a number of instances the same homes were dealt with two or three
times during the year.
In practically the whole of the cases reported the houses were visited by the
Sanitary Inspectors, and the following summarises the results obtained :—In 1,040
the rooms occupied were satisfactory, i.e., they varied from fairly clean to very
clean, in 156 they were dirty, in 114 they were buggy, and in 115 they were both
dirty and infested with bugs. In 1,061 the bedding was clean or fairly so, in 221
it was dirty, in 56 bugs were observed, and in 45 it was both dirty and buggy.
In 121 instances the bedding showed more or less evidence of lice, the insects
themselves or their eggs being observed. It is to be noted that where lice were
present the bedding was usually dirty and otherwise verminous. In some cases,
however, it appeared to be quite clean. In 46 instances mothers attributed the
presence of lice to the use of second hand clothing purchased for the children. In
516 instances the homes were markedly infested with fleas, in 49 overcrowding was
found, and in 82 there were marked evidences of poverty. In 225 instances there
were indications of recent efforts at cleansing, doubtless in most cases in expectation
of the visit of the Sanitary Officer. In 57 instances there was difficulty in
obtaining entrance to the dwelling for the purpose of inspection. In some cases
as many as five or six visits had to be made before the necessary inspection could
be carried out, and in 13 cases notice of intention to apply to a Magistrate for an
order to enter the dwelling had to be given. Altogether in these cases some
208 visits had to be made when 57 should have been sufficient. It is also to be
mentioned that in the cases of 260 of the children notified the addresses were
erroneous and the children could not be traced; in 122 they were not known at