Grievous scandals having occurred in the treatment of the sick in many of the metropolitan workhouses, the Government of 1867 decided on a great measure of reform. Once more the necessity of central government had to be recognised, and by the Metropolitan Poor Act of 1867 a Board--elected by the Poor Law Guardians, who themselves were elected bodies--was created as a central authority to relieve Poor Law Guardians of the care of and treatment of paupers suffering from fever and smallpox who could not be properly treated in workhouses, and to provide for their treatment and accommodation, as well as that of the harmless insane of the metropolis.
The Board was entitled the Metropolitan Asylums Board, and consisted of 73 members; 55 of whom were elected by the various Boards of Guardians in London, and the remaining 18 being nominated by the Home Secretary.
In the early stage of its existence its duties were strictly confined to those of the pauper class suffering from these diseases.[110] Admission to its hospitals could be obtained only on orders issued by the relieving officers, and those admitted became, if they were not so already, "pauperised" by admission and _ipso facto_ paupers; but later its scope was extended, and it became the Hospital Authority for infectious diseases in London, and afforded another illustration of the necessity for having one central authority for matters relating to the public health of the inhabitants of the metropolis.
The erection of hospitals was at once commenced. The first was opened in January, 1870, and the isolated treatment of many cases of infectious disease was of great benefit to the community.
In 1867, too, Parliament again dealt with the condition of the workers in Factories and Workshops. The legislation dealt with the kingdom as a whole, but inasmuch as London was so great a manufacturing city, it affected also the masses of the working population of the metropolis.
The Commissioners on Children's Employment, who had been at work since 1862, had completed their inquiry, and made many recommendations, and in the concluding part of their fifth report, dated 1866, they wrote:--
"We heartily trust that we may have thus, in some degree, contributed to bring the time nearer when so many hundreds of thousands of your Majesty's poorer subjects of the working classes--especially the very young and those of the tenderer sex--will be relieved from the totally unnecessary burden and oppression of overtime, and night work; will be confined to the reasonable and natural limits of the factory hours ... will perform their daily labour under more favourable sanitary conditions, breathing purer air, amid greater cleanliness, and protected against causes specially injurious to health and tending to depress their vigour and shorten their lives."