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15
without doubt spread by the consumption of meat
which is only slightly tainted, and which it requires
the presence of a skilled expert to detect. It is
clear that a public abattoir could only be successfully
instituted in an area of considerable size, with
boundaries in open situations, where illicit slaughterhouses
could not be erected unnoticed.
The proposed district would include the two
sub-registration districts of Kingston and Ham
with Hatch, so that if the suggestions of the
Commission on Death Registration should become
law, the transference of the office would be simplified.
At present there is not an Inspector under the
Shop Hours Act, and as further legislation in this
direction is to be expected, a larger authority would
be able to administer such laws more adequately
and economically than several small ones.
The spread of infectious diseases being chiefly
through schools, it is of great importance that
children should attend the schools in the sanitary
districts in which they reside. At present a certain
number of children attend the Kingston Elementary
Schools from Kingston Hill, Surbiton, and New
Maiden, whilst at the Grammar and Tiffins' Schools
there are over one hundred scholars from the
outside divisions of the proposed extended Borough.
In time of epidemic it is often necessary to inspect
schools and promptly hunt up all absentee scholars
at their homes. If it is necessary to communicate
with medical officers of health, who are busily
engaged with their private patients, valuable time
may be lost. This will be more especially the case
when a laboratory for the detection of the
Diphtheria bacillus, on the plan in work in New
York, and shortly to be established in London and
Bristol, shall be in operation in connection with the
Isolation Hospital.