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173
of those that do come to our own knowledge, where
the persons immediately concerned object to the
interference of the Vestry, they arm themselves with
a certificate from the medical attendant that all needful
disinfection has been effected. In many such
cases we have reason to know that no actual disinfection
has been attempted, or that disinfection has
been done in a perfunctory and absolutely useless
manner, but any further action on our part is necessarily
estopped. I do not here call special attention
to the inherent difficulties of efficient disinfection in
the thickly-peopled houses of the very poor, though
they are often so great as practically to neutralise
the effects of disinfection; but I may point out that
although Vestries have power to compel landlords
to strip off paper, and to lime-white rooms or houses
in which infection exists, they have no power to
compel them to reinstate, and that consequently
premises are apt, after disinfection, to be left in a
miserable-looking condition, which (though not unhealthy)
is a serious grievance to the tenant, and to
the casual visitor would be a proof of official neglect.
It is difficult to see how the spread of dangerous
infectious diseases among the very poor can be
effectively checked unless the legislature gives local
authorities much greater powers than they now