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stated that the Ministry had considered the recent increase in
the number of cases of smallpox in London, and suggested that
in the present circumstances it would be desirable that the
Council of any Metropolitan Borough in which chickenpox is
not compulsorily notifiable should take the matter into immediate
consideration if smallpox occurs in the Borough or in
an adjacent area, with a view to requiring the notification of
cases of chickenpox for, say, a period of six months.
The Council accordingly resolved that, in view of the emergency
arising from the prevailing epidemic of smallpox, the provisions
of Section 55 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891,
which section relates to the notification of infectious diseases
should apply in the Borough of Camberwell to the infectious disease
known as Chickenpox, and that this Order should remain in
operation for a period of six months.
Public Notice was accordingly given of the Order throughout
the Borough, and the approval of the Minister of Health to the
Order was subsequently received.
Underground Rooms.
In December, 1929, the Council were informed by the
appropriate Committee that the Metropolitan Boroughs' Standing
Joint Committee had had under consideration a communication
from the London County Council on the subject of the
promotion of legislation dealing with the use as dwellings of basement
rooms, and stating that the London County Council took
the view that the use of many basement dwellings as living
rooms, and not only their use as sleeping quarters, was injurious
to health, and that the question should therefore be considered
in its broader public health aspect, and not merely in relation
to danger arising from floodings. The County Council had
before them a proposal that legislation should be promoted to
extend the scope of Part 1 of the Housing Act, 1925, in its application
to London, so as to enable unsatisfactory basement
rooms, used as living rooms, to be deemed to be so
dangerous or injurious to health as to be unfit for
human habitation and consequently to subject them to
the provisions of that part of the Act in relation to closing
orders. It was not proposed that the making of a closing
order in respect of an underground room should prevent the
room being used for other than dwelling purposes or prevent the
continued use of the remainder of the house for dwelling purposes,
neither was it contemplated that the suggested statutory
powers would connote the immediate closing of a large number of
existing dwellings, but that the powers would be exercised only as
and when circumstances permitted. As, however, any rehousing
operations involved by the closing of underground rooms on a