View report page

24
or the cleansing, purifying, or destruction of which is requisite to
prevent risk of or to check infectious disease; (2) to serve notice upon
tho owner or occupier of any house or part of a house which is infested
with vermin, calling upon him to cleanse such house or part of a house,
to remove the wall papers from the walls, and to take such other steps
for the purpose of destroying and removing vermin as the case may
require.
These powers supplement those contained in the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, and will undoubtedly prove of service in dealing
with conditions which are unfortunately of far too common occurrence
in the tenement houses occupied by the lower wage-earning classes.
Already action is being taken by the Elementary School Authorities in
refusing to allow children to attend school, who are in a verminous
condition ; and the powers now possessed by the Borough Councils in
dealing with verminous premises should prove valuable in supplementing
the crusade against personal uncleanliness that the action of the Public
Elementary School Authorities has initiated.