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medical aid, in the neighbourhood of Thomas street. The premises were
visited, and four children suffering from this disease were found, in two
instances without any medical attendant. The parents in each case had
only one room in which to eat, drink, and sleep. As they all declined to
have the children removed to hospital, proceedings were taken under the
26th section of the Sanitary Act, 1866, which provides, "Where a
hospital or place for the reception of the sick is provided within the
district of a nuisance authority, any justice may, with the consent of the
superintending body of such hospital or place, by order on a certificate
signed by a legally qualified medical practitioner, direct the removal to
such hospital or place for the reception of the sick, at the cost of the
nuisance authority, of any person suffering from any dangerous, contagious,
or infectious disorder, being without proper lodging or accommodation, or
lodging in a room occupied by more than one family, or being on board
any ship or vessel."
In each case I gave a certificate that the children suffering from Small
Pox were without proper lodging or accommodation for isolation and
treatment, basing my opinion upon the fact that the parents had one room
only, and though nothing is said in the Act about isolation and treatment,
I considered the word accommodation sufficiently vague to bear the
interpretation I put upon it. Anyway, the magistrate acted upon my
certificate, and ordered the immediate removal of the children. The
magistrate's certificate was handed by Mr. Lapworth to the Relieving
Officer for the district, and he immediately took steps for removing the
children to Homerton, without asking any inconvenient questions.
Subsequently, some discussion arose at the Board of Guardians as to the
action of the Believing Officer, who, strictly speaking, should not have
acted upon the magistrate's order, as the children were not technically
paupers, having never applied for relief. The ambulance contractor also
objected, stating that his contract was for paupers only, and not for
sanitary cases. We of course saw that we should not get any more cases
removed in the same manner, so arrangements were made for the removal
of any fresh cases with the contractor on behalf of the Vestry, and we
cast about to see what we could do in the way of providing hospital
accommodation of our own. The Asylums Board was first communicated
with, to ascertain upon what terms a certain number of beds could be
allotted to this vestry, and the following answer was received from
Mr. Jebb.