The public health of London was now altogether on a better level than it had been before, but in the course of the year 1901 some cases of smallpox appeared in various parts of London, and in 1902 there was the most severe outbreak of it—with the possible exception of 1884–5—since 1871, nearly 9,000 cases being admitted to the hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board between September, 1901, and July, 1902. Ninety-three patients were removed to hospital in one day, and on one day (March 11th) 1,604 cases were under treatment. Over 1,300 persons died of it in the year.
The cost of disease to the community has often been referred to in previous chapters. The Metropolitan Asylums Board stated that so far as it was concerned, the cost for 1901–2 might be put at £500,000—equal to about a threepenny rate—a sum which was wholly apart from loss of wages to the individual, and various other expenses, and apart from the charge upon the rates of those who were pauperised by the death of the breadwinner of the family.
1903 was “a year of comparatively very slight prevalence of infectious disorders.”
In 1904 there was “a marked absence of undue activity amongst the infectious diseases of the metropolis.”
And 1905 was the healthiest year in the records of London since registration, the death-rate being 15·1 per 1,000.
In the five years which have passed since the census of 1901, Parliament has passed three Acts of the utmost consequence to the sanitary condition of the people of London, marking, in their respective spheres, definite stages in the sanitary evolution of the metropolis.
The sanitary evils to which many of the people were subject might, as has already been stated, be roughly divided into two classes—those of their dwellings at night, and those of their workplaces in the day.
“The Factory and Workshop Act” of 1901 dealt with the latter. It was the amendment and final codification of a mass of piecemeal legislation which had been spread over a period of years.
In 1878, previous enactments on the subject had been consolidated into one Act. That Act was amended in 1883, 1891, and 1895. All were now finally embodied in this Act of 1901 with several additions and amendments. Additional sanitary provisions were made as to the ventilation of factories and workshops, and as to the drainage of floors. Bakehouses came within the scope of the Act, and the law was made much more stringent as to them. After January 1, 1904, it would be unlawful to use any underground bakehouse unless certified by the Borough Council to be suitable.
A register of workshops was to be kept, and the Medical Officer of Health was, in his annual report, to report specifically on the administration of the Act in workshops and workplaces—a direction which ensured publicity as to the action of the local authorities. The powers of the sanitary authorities were extended by the Act, and certain duties necessary for efficient administration imposed upon them.