London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Lewisham 1955
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
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25
Special liaison is made twice yearly with the Borough Engineer's
department for the treatment of sewers. In 1955 treatments were
carried out in June and December. The method employed in carrying
out this work was to deposit 8 oz. prebait on the first day and if a
complete take was shown, 16 ozs. of prebait were used on the second day.
Where complete takes were shown on the second day, the poison bait
deposited was equal to the prebait. In any case at least 8 ozs. of poison
bait was deposited. Poison takes were not inspected.
The following is a summary of the results obtained:—
Summer treatment
Manholes baited 2,926
Manholes showing prebait take 506
Manholes showing complete prebait take
(on one or both days) 448
Winter treatment
Manholes baited 2,941
Manholes showing prebait take 470
Manholes showing complete prebait take 557
Prevention of Damage by Pests Act, 1949
A copy of the annual report covering the twelve months ended
31 March, 1956, submitted to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries
and Food, as required by the provisions of the above Act, is appended.
Table 16
| Local authority | Dwelling houses (including council houses) | All other (including business premises) | Total | Agricultural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of properties in borough | 138 63,015 | 9,613 | 72,766 | ||
| Number of properties inspected as a result of:— | |||||
| (a) notification | 7 | 1,512 | 149 | 1,668 | — |
| (b) survey | — | 3,375 | 4 | 3,379 | — |
| (c) otherwise | — | 9 | 7 | 16 | — |
| Number of properties inspected which were found to be infested by: | |||||
| (a) Rats — major | — | — | — | — | — |
| — minor | 3 | 1,356 | 97 | 1,456 | — |
| (b) Mice— major | — | — | — | — | — |
| — minor | 3 | 342 | 51 | 396 | — |
| Number of infested | |||||
| properties treated | 6 | 1,601 | 141 | 1,748 | — |
| Total treatments (including retreatments) | 9 | 4,558 | 355 | 4,922 | — |
Number of "block" control schemes carried out 38