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9
PHTHISIS.—With the still partial and incomplete registration
of phthisis it is impossible for me to form any decided opinion as to
the good results which have been obtained by the means which have
been used here to check the spread of this infectious disease. I hope,
now that an Act for the compulsory notification of all cases which
comes into force on Jan. 1st, 1912, to be able next year to give some
useful and reliable returns of the number of cases and the means
which I have taken to prevent infection. I am a strong advocate for
the sanatorium treatment both for early cases which I think can be
cured in a majority of cases, and also for cases in the later stages
where much can be done by teaching to prolong their own lives and
prevent those who live with them, and attend to them, from contracting
the disease. I will again repeat, although I may lay myself open to
the charge of wearying my readers, the simple means which should
be taken in all cases where there is a consumptive person in the
house.
1.—Always live and sleep in a room with the windows open.
2.—Sleep alone.
3.—Expectorate into a pot containing a disinfectant, or into a
rag which must be immediately burnt. (The Council supply disinfectants
and spittoons free to the poor.)
4.—Do not spit on the floor, in the street, or in any public
vehicle.
I express a hope that a properly up-to-date Sanatorium be
erected in Middlesex, and that no attempt will be made to utilise
either a Small Pox Hospital, which may be required at any time for
small pox patients, and possibly will be in the near future as an
epidemic is now due, or Isolation Hospitals which were erected for
the special purpose of isolating scarlet fever, diphtheria and enteric
fever and are in all but a very few cases, none too large for that
purpose.
HOUSING, TOWN PLANNING, &c., ACT, 1909.
INSANITARY PROPERTY.
During the past year 28 houses have been reported upon, of
which 22 were closed upon representation being made to the various
owners, 4 are in hand, and in two instances the Council made closing
orders prohibiting their use as dwellings.
I am pleased to report that no appeals have been lodged with
the Local Government Board against any closing or demolition
orders made by the Council, which speaks for the satisfactory
manner in which the work of the Public Health Department is
being carried on. The practice adopted is to call the attention of the
owner to the property, and to ask for an interview, which request
is readily granted, and in this way the condition of the property is
brought home to the owners.