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153
of the Committee, though unconvinced— "If any person conveyed
through a street a coat or dress that had been for ever so short a
time exposed to infection in a sick room, he would be liable to
the penalty (prescribed by the Act); but it would seem that a
person may with impunity wear, in public places, a suit of clothes
that had been for an entire night exposed to infection in the same
sick room. The danger is as great in the one case as in the
other. Again, if any person ' moves or exposes ' in a public place
any infected bedding, &c., unless in course of transmission, under
proper precautions, to a disinfecting chamber, he is liable to a
penalty. But it would seem that he may with impunity expose
that same bedding in a backyard, over the dwarf walls of which
the winds impartially disseminate the poison it contains in every
direction." The law is still in the same state as in 1876, and
no attempt has been made, to my knowledge, to determine
whether exposure of infected clothing on the bodies of healthy
persons, or of infected bedding, &c., in backyards close to adjoining
houses, is an offence coming within the provisions of the
section. Your Vestry, however, decided that, in the event of a
suitable case occurring the question should be tried.
EGGS UNFIT FOR FOOD.
A communication from the Clerkenwell Vestry, relating to
eggs exposed for sale and condemned by a Magistrate as unfit for
food, was referred to the Law and Parliamentary Committee.
The Vestry stated that they were compelled to forego proceedings
in consequence of eggs not being specially mentioned in the Act
(26 & 27 Vict., cap. 117); that they had communicated with the
Local Government Board requesting them to take steps to procure
an amendment of the law on the subject, and they requested your
Vestry to take a similar course. The Committee recommended your
Vestry to communicate with the Board in the manner suggested,
but the recommendation was not adopted. In the course of the
discussion on the subject I was appealed to for an opinion,
which I gave to the effect that if the particular instance,
of seizure of 12,000 eggs, which gave rise to the Clerkenwell