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Industrial Dwellings, for the children, released from school attendance,
would bo certain to congregate (as they do now in play hours) in the
large paved yards at the back of tho dwellings, and upon the staircases
of the buildings, for purposes of play; though probably the risk
of contagion would not be so great in the open air as in close schoolrooms
; still, tho benefits of closure would be greatly minimised. On
/
the other hand, tho power to prohibit the attendance of children from
houses or streets known to bo infected is a very useful one, though it
is simply an extension of what, in conjunction with the School Board
authorities, we havo been doing for some time past.
We continue to receive from the School Board visitors information
of such cases of infectious illness as come within their knowledge; and
in return your Sanitary Inspectors are instructed to forward to the
superintendent of visitors early information of houses in which cases
of infectious disease have existed ; and children rosiding in such houses
are not allowed to attend school.
"Infectious Disease in Hoard School Children.—At a recent
meeting of the London School Board, Mr. Mark Wilks (the chairman of the
school management committee), moved, 'That article 133(v) of the Code of
Regulations for the guidance of managers and teachers he amended, so as
to read as follows:—Any child shewing symptoms of an infectious disease,
or any child coming from a house where infectious disease exists, must be
sent home at once. The medical officer of health for the district must at
the same time be informed of the child's exclusion, and furnished with the
name and address of the child, and the reason for its exclusion. Where
there is not a medical officer of health the information must be forwarded to
the sanitary authority. Any child suffering from scarlet fever, diphtheria,
small pox, or typhus fever, and excluded under this rule, should not be
allowed to resume attendance at school within two months, unless a certificate
from the medical officer of the sanitary authority or of the union is
produced to shew that it may safely be re-admitted ; but when a child has
been attended by a duly-qualified medical practitioner, his signature shall be
sufficient. If the school fees are remitted for such child, or paid by the
guardians of the union at the time of its exclusion, the cost of the above
certificate will be defrayed by the Board.' The proposition was agreed to
without discussion."—The Lancet, August llth, 1883, p. 254.
SMALL TOX.
(Decennial average, 66.8).
The number of cases of Small Pox reported to us during the year
was 40; of these throe died in their own homes; 43 were removed to
hospitals, of whom five died; 32 were discharged cured; and six
remained under treatment at the end of the year.