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from the Medical Officer of the Privy Council, dated 14th of December last,
in reply to one that I addressed to the medical department of that office,
asking for advice as to the course I should pursue in regard to the requests
made to me by the Police Inspectors of common lodging-houses in my District,
it would appear "that the Medical Officer of Health is not absolved from his
sanitary duties in regard to a house in his District because it is registered as
a common lodging-house, and that he is the most proper person to advise the
police, acting as local authority under the Common Lodging-Houses' Act,
1853, sec. 7, as to the course to be pursued for preventing the spread of
disease and that the Medical Officer of Health "will do well to give every
assistance in his power to the Police Inspectors, in regard to common lodging
houses in his District, as well, when asked by them, by advising them on
sanitary matters, and giving a certificate of satisfactory disinfection, as, without
being asked to do so, by calling their attention to any sanitary defects in
such houses or their management."
Cow-Houses and Slaughter-Houses.
All the cow-houses and slaughter-houses in the District have been duly
visited by the Sanitary Officers. As regards the cow-houses, I may observe
that the proprietors of them having carried out the directions of the Board,
as laid down last year, no opposition was made to the renewal of their
licenses.
The slaughter-houses having been found, upon inspection, to be in a
satisfactory condition, both as regards cleanliness and ventilation, the Board
offered no objection to the renewal of the annual license. In the course of
seven years from this time, according to the provisions of the Building Act,
1844, the slaughtering of cattle in the slaughter-houses in this District will
be prohibited. In my opinion, the prohibition of the slaughtering of cattle
in crowded neighbourhoods, will greatly benefit the health of the public. It
is found that three public slaughter houses are sufficient for Glasgow, a
city of about half a million of people, and that this number answers every
purpose that slaughter-houses are intended to fulfil; consequently all private
slaughter-houses are prohibited in that city.
If all the private slaughter-houses were abolished and public slaughterhouses
were the only licensed places for slaughtering cattle in London, and if
competent officers were appointed to inspect the animals, both before and
after slaughter, with power to condemn and order to be destroyed all meat
that was unfit for the food of man, then it is probable that much of the bad
meat, which now finds its way into some of the butchers' shops in London,
would be prevented, and the Sanitary Officers of the local Boards would be
saved the trouble, and relieved from the responsibility of inspecting and
seizing meat exposed for sale.
The slaughtering of cattle, as is now carried on in London, is a nuisance,
and the public will hail with delight the approaching period when the
numerous slaughter-houses, now scattered all over the Metropolis, will be