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As the London County Council, in spite of several representations, refused to give to the
officers of the Borough Council access to the Register of Dog Licence Holders, the Minister of
Health has again been asked to sanction a by-law in regard to this nuisance.
The Council have made it clear that power is required, not to control the habits of dogs when
running free, which is impossible, but to penalise those persons adopting the common and
objectionable practice of allowing dogs on the leash to foul the footpath when it would be quite
easy to lead them to the gutter.
The Minister has offered to consider any by-law submitted by the Council and at present the
framing of a suitable Clause is under consideration by the Law and General Purposes Committee.
RAG FLOCK ACT, 1911.
Four samples of rag flock were analysed and reported on during the year. They contained
20, 15, 10 and 7.5 parts of chlorine per 100,000, the limit set by the Regulations being 30 parts.
INCREASE OF RENT AND MORTGAGE INTEREST (RESTRICTIONS) ACT, 1920.
Under Section 2 of this Act, a tenant is entitled at any time, not being less than three
months after the date of an increase of rent permitted by the Act, to apply to the County Court for
an Order suspending such increase, on the ground that the house is not in all respects reasonably
fit for human habitation or is otherwise not in a reasonable state of repair. Before he can succeed
the tenant must satisfy the Court by the production of a certificate of the sanitary authority or
otherwise that his application is well founded.
When this Act was under consideration by the Council in September last, it was anticipated
that the Public Health Department would be inundated with applications, but to the end of the
year the number received totalled 10 and the number of certificates granted was 2.
Up to the time of writing this report (June, 1921) the applications are not more numerous
than in 1920.
This failure by tenants to attempt to make use of this provision of the Act is probably due
mainly to the fact that many houses in defective repair come under the notice of the Sanitary
Inspectors, who put the Public Health Acts into operation and thus save the tenants the necessity
of appealing to the County Court.
It would appear that the Act will be of more use to tenants in areas where the sanitary
administration is inclined to be lax.
There are, of course, cases where the rents have not been increased to the full extent permitted
owing to the defective condition of the houses, whilst in other cases owners of houses in good
repair have not availed themselves of the opportunities granted to them by the Act.
CUSTOM AND INLAND REVENUE ACTS.
Under these Acts, 27 certificates were issued by the Medical Officer of Health during the
year in respect of 27 flats in 10 houses (one being a common lodging house) containing 27 separate
dwellings.
CLEANSING OF VERMINOUS PERSONS ACT, 1897.
At the end of 1913, the Council took over for use as a Station for the cleansing of verminous
persons the Casual Wards in Mary Place. In the receiving room there were three baths on the
ground floor which were suitable for the bathing of verminous persons, and the Council installed
in the adjoining room a machine for the disinfestation of clothing by steam at a temperature of
100 degrees Centigrade.
The Station was staffed by a married couple who resided on the premises. The husband was
responsible for the working of the disinfector and the bathing of adult males, and his wife undertook
the bathing of the females and children. At times of pressure a temporary female assistant
was employed.
The Casual Wards occupied part of the site selected for the Council's Mary Place housing
scheme, and in order to allow the contractors to proceed with the erection of the new houses, the
Cleansing Station was closed and demolished in August.

There was an enormous increase of work in 1920; in seven months considerably more work
was done than in any preceding twelve months. The increase was mainly due to two factors,
namely, (1) the return to civil life of a large number of the County Council school doctors and
school nurses, which enabled more frequent and more complete examinations to be undertaken for
verminous conditions, and (2) the unusually large number of cases of scabies (itch), which disease
was undoubtedly disseminated by infected soldiers who had returned home from foreign service.