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23
By-Laws as to Houses let in Lodgings.
At t he end of the year 493 houses were registered under these By-laws. Of
these, 237 are in St. Giles and Bloomsbury and 256 in the Holborn District.
There were 824 inspections of these premises, excluding a very large number
of periodical inspections and re-inspections. 142 notices were served for breaches
of the By-laws, in addition to 493 notices that were served for annual cleansing as
required by the By-laws.
Rag and Bone Dealers.
Ninety inspections of rag and bone shops were made in the year 1930; no
breach was found of the By-laws made by the London County Council for regulating
the conduct of this business.
Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, 1919.
During the year 174 premises were inspected under the above Act, the total
inspections being 303. Five notices for breaches of the Act were served. As a
result in all five cases' rat proofing was carried out; at one premises this included
new drainage, at another the front cellar was repaired, and at another the proofing
included repair of the paving in the basement. In addition to the proofing,
poisons and traps were used. At the end of the year four of the five premises
were reported to be clear of infestation ; at the fifth a rat is only occasionally seen.
A complaint was received of the presence of rats in the playground of an
elementary school, access thereto being by way of defective air bricks) from under
the floor of the school. Inspection of the premises afforded no evidence of rats
in the cellars under the school building or in the adjoining premises. The School
Managers were advised to employ a rat catcher to deal with the nuisance at the
moment and to carry out rat proofing during the following summer holiday. This
course was adopted and no further nuisance has occurred.
The general arrangements made by the Council for rat repression included :—
(1) Systematic baiting in the Council's sewers, the bait used being small cubes of bread
soaked in liquid extract of red squills and "Dalroc" which are found to be more effective
than barium carbonate. The baits were laid in the sewers weekly during the year and four
times during the first week in November. Thirteen gallons of the poison were used, making
19,600 baits. The men who work in the sewers report that the baits were taken aud dead
rats occasionally seen, some probably being washed away.
(2) The services of the Council's workmen were available for rat proofing subject to the
cost of such service and the material used being defrayed by the owners or occupiers of the
premises where the work was carried out.
(3) Arrangements were continued with firms of rat catchers for dealing with rat infested
premises at the cost of the occupiers. This arrangement has proved useful and reports are
from time to time received from the rat catchers employed respecting their inspections of
the premises and the work ultimately carried out.
Where rat catchers are employed under the arrangements made by the Council,
information is given to the Medical Officer of Health by the firms employed
as to the work done and the results, but in many cases these or other firms are
called in apart from the Council's arrangements and information in such cases
may not be given to the local authority.