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47
THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC ABROAD,
AND INFECTED RAGS.
On account of information received on Saturday evening,
July 26, from Inspector Coxhead, that a consignment of rags,
seized at the Port of London, en route from Marseilles, was to be
burnt at the city wharf, within the Parish of Lambeth, an
investigation was made, and it was found that a number of bales
were hourly expected, and that the city authorities had given
permission to the port authorities to burn these rags at the city
wharf
Instructions were given that no rags should be landed, and a
verbal undertaking to that effect was received by the foreman of
the yard.
The danger of destroying rags at the wharf would have been
great. The rags had been collected in a town where deaths from
cholera had numbered as many as 60 a day, and the epidemic
must have been at its height at the time of collection.
In order to burn the rags it would have been necessary to open
the bales, as the largest opening into the furnace is not sufficient
to receive the bales unopened, so that the workmen doing the
work might have been readily infected. Again, in working the
destructor, often large pieces of unburnt material are carried
up the shaft, and fall in the neighbouring yards.
It was arranged that frequent visits should be made by
Inspector Coxhead during Saturday night and Sunday, so that
nothing could be landed without his knowledge. On Monday
morning a consultation took place with the Clerk to the Vestry in
reference to what legal proceedings could be taken to prevent the
city authorities from making use of the destructor for such
purpose.
The Medical Officer and Clerk to the Vestry visited the wharf,
but they were unable to get from the Superintendent any sufficient
guarantee that the bales would not be landed and passed through