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taken. In the great majority of instances the cases came under our notice
through intimations from the school authorities.
Daring the year the homes of some 1,317 children, 613 boys and 704 girls,
notified as being verminous by the School Medical Officer, were reported with a
view to the homes and bedding where necessary being dealt with by the Sanitary
Authority, the children themselves having been cleansed and their clothing
disinfected at the cleansing stations of the London County Council in the
neighbourhood. Intimations were received that 373 boys and 252 girls had
been given the opportunity of being cleansed at the cleansing stations; that in
the cases of 228 boys and 423 girls statutory notices had been served upon the
parents to cleanse the children within 24 hours under Section 122 of the Children's
Act, 1908, and that in the cases of 12 boys and 29 girls legal proceedings were
pending for non-compliance with the requirements of statutory notices. In
numerous instances the same children were reported more than once, and their
homes had to be visited and dealt with accordingly.
In practically all the cases reported the homes were visited by the sanitary
inspectors, and the following summarises the results obtained :—In 790 the rooms
occupied were satisfactory, varying from fairly clean to very clean, in 149 they
were dirty, in 87 buggy, and in 87 both dirty and buggy. In 771 the bedding
was clean or fairly so, in 250 it was dirty, in 54 bugs were noticed, and in 30 it
was both dirty and buggy. In 75 instances more or less evidence of lice was
observed in the bedding. Where lice were present the bedding was usually
dirty and otherwise verminous : they were, however, noticed in some cases where
the bedding appeared otherwise quite clean. In 16 instances the presence of lice
was attributed to second-hand clothing purchased for the children. In 244 cases
the homes were markedly infested with fleas, in 24 overcrowding was found, and
in 18 there was marked evidence of poverty. The poverty-stricken cases were,
however, far less numerous than in former years. In 165 instances there were
indications of recent steps for cleansing, doubtless in most cases in expectation of
the visit from the sanitary officer. In 71 instances there was difficulty in obtaining
entrance to the dwelling for 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 21 instances notice of intention to apply for a magistrate's order to enter the
dwelling had to be given. In connection with these cases some 209 visits had
to be made where 71 should have been sufficient. It is to be uoted that in the
cases of 234 children the addresses were erroneous. In most of these the children
could not be traced ; in 103 they were not known at the addresses stated on the
forms, in 84 they had left the addresses, in 21 the addresses were non-existent
in the Borough, in 24 the houses were empcy, and in two they had been
demolished. In a number of instances forms were received relating to nonresidents
in the Borough ; these were duly forwarded to their proper destination.
Evidence of lice was found in the bedding in 5.7 per cent, of the cases investigated,
which is considerably lower than that for previous years.