Notes on the sanitary clauses of the Birkenhead Corporation Act, 1881 / by Francis Vacher.

  • Vacher, Francis.
Date:
[1881]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on the sanitary clauses of the Birkenhead Corporation Act, 1881 / by Francis Vacher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    Powers to close dairies, shops or stores used for the sale or storing of provisions or clothing, or anything liable to retain infection, in case of infectious disease appearing on the j)remises, are also essential for the efficient procection of the public health. Similar powers have been granted to other Urban Authorities. The clause it was lately proposed to insert in the Liverpool Act contemplated the closing of laundries, dairies, and shops or other places for the sale of milk or provisions. Thus in this respect our powers go beyond those sought by the Liverpool Health Committee, and which aroused the opposition of the Medical Institution. My past experience as a health officer has taught me that such powers are calculated to be of great service, especially at the commencement of an epidemic. They may of course be wholly inoperative through mistaken views on economy, but if used promptly and sufficiently they can be productive of nothing but good. Looking back I can recall to mind many an outbreak of infectious disease in business premises where I would willingly have closed the shop had I been able. Clause 78 of the Corporation Act is very similar to the 131st Clause of the Public Health Act, 1875. The latter enables any Sanitary Authority to provide hospitals or temporary places for the reception of the sick, either by building hospitals or contracting for the use of existing hospitals. Cur clause takes power to provide fittings, furni- ture, medical appliances, &c., and to engage medical attendance, nurses and others for the hospital; but this power is implied in the Public Health Act clause. Hitherto the expenses of the local fever hospital have been borne by the district fund ; the effect of this clause is to make them chargeable on the borough fund. Clause 79 of the Corporation Act follows the lines of the 124th Clause of the Public Health Act, !^875. Under the latter, where a suitable hospital or place is provided, any person suffering from a dangerous infectious disorder may be removed there, by justice’s order, if without proper lodging or accommodation, or lodged in a room occupied by more than one family, or on board any ship ; and I ^^3' the Local Authority’s order, if lodged in any common lodging- I house. Under the Birkenhead Act we shall be able to remove au}'^ i infectious patient, by consent after notice, or without consent on a I justice s Older, when the patient is Avithout proper lodging or accom- I modation enabling the case to be properly isolated so as to prevent s the spread of the disorder, or to be properly treated. Leaving out I the woids ‘ or lodged in a room occupied by more than one family J 01 on board any ship, ’ materially strengthens the Clause; as when a ^ general description, such as “without proper lodging,” is followed y specific descriptions of certain improper lodging, the specific i descriptions are apt to be construed by justices as interpreting the pneral psmption. There are probably few medical officers of . ^ ° experience of the difficulty of proving an mtectious patient improperly lodged, within the meaning of the 124th <->iause. A person disobeying or obstructing an order is liable under