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past the medical officer who would arrange for the more thorough
examination of those who looked ill or were dirty. Infectious
patients were to be removed to the Isolation Hospital. In regard
to those women in an advanced stage of pregnancy or who seemed
to be in premature labour, if there was no accommodation in the
hospitals of the County Council approval was given to arrangements
being made at the cost of the local authority for their
admission to local maternity homes. The formulation of proposals
for dealing with those infested with vermin caused some anxiety.
It was anticipated that any lightly infested would be admitted to
billets, while those more severely affected might be treated at
the cleansing sections of the first aid posts, but in regard to those
heavily infested or those suffering from contagious conditions
such as scabies or extensive impetigo it was thought it might have
been necessary to arrange for their admission to the Stanmore
Isolation Hospital which at that time was vacant. By means of
pamphlets issued on their arrival the evacuees were to be informed
of the local health and social services, and once they had been
admitted to their billets they would become members of the local
population, obtaining any medical attention privately by the
local medical practitioners if possible but if not then through the
public assistance machinery of the County Council. As in the
case of the other preparations made these also proved unnecessary.
Although some persons came here from the coast towns, they
came as units and not in official train-loads. Even of these, before
the end of the year, large numbers had returned to their homes,
having decided in September or October that they would be subject
to less inconvenience there than they would if they remained here.
In September the district began to receive numbers of persons
who had been rendered homeless as a result of enemy action,
while from time to time there was the need to provide accommodation
for those of our own residents whose homes have been
temporarily or permanently damaged. In regard to those from
London it will probably prove that they are fleeting, as it seems
that this district is too far removed from the district from which
they come for it to be convenient for the wage-earner to go to his
work from here, whereas, on the other hand, it is not sufficiently
far out to provide that degree of safety which an evacuee
can reasonably look for. The following is a summary of the
extent to which the district is housing residents from this
and other areas : The 2,071 persons on October 1st comprised 22
local inhabitants billeted, 1,322 from London and 610 from coast
towns. A month later the corresponding figures were 165, 3,131
and 576, a total of 3,946. An increase to a total of 4,971 next
month was followed by a fall to a total of 4,971 at the end of the
year of whom 421 were local, 3,253 from London and 389 from
coast towns.
One of the direct deleterious effects of enemy action envisaged