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33,357 new tabs were used to replace those taken off mattresses, palliasses, and cushions
before disinfection.
The following are reports made to the Public Health Committee with reference to the
disinfection of Neckinger Schools for vermin.
Neckinger Schools.
25th June.
As a consequence of complaints of vermin and smells at the above Schools, I
instructed the District Inspector, Mr. Jones, to visit and report as to its condition. He
was informed by the Head Master and Mistress, as well as by the Caretaker, that vermin
are frequently seen both in the classrooms and corridors, in cupboards and in the scholars'
books.
Smells were also complained of in some of the classrooms, and on examining the
ventilation" pipe which runs through the Caretaker's w.c. up towards the roof with the
smoke test, he found all the joints defective, permitting smoke to escape. This probably
accounts for the smells in those rooms, the windows of which are in close proximity to
this ventilation pipe. The boys' urinal in the playground was also in a foul condition and
smelled offensive, and in the infants' urinal parts of the unrendered walls are used by the
children, and were offensive, being neither impervious nor flushed. The fifth w.c. pan
from the entrance in the boys' lavatory was broken, and the inspection chamber cover in
the yard of the Caretaker's house was broken.
I visited the School on the 20th June, in company with the Inspector, and can
confirm all these conditions. The furniture and cupboards in this school are very old, and
I found there were any amount of crevices for harbouring vermin. For instance, the space
between the door frame and walls in the classroom I examined (B, Girls' Department) was
filled up with paper and covered over with plaster. There was also a number of
apparently useless canvas curtains, and on one of these I found vermin, as also did the
Inspector on another one in the same room on a previous occasion.
It seems that last summer, during the hot weather, the conditions were very bad,
and I can quite believe, if we have similar hot weather this year, they will become very
much worse than they are at present.
We have power to deal with verminous houses and articles under Part IV. of the
London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1904, but I think it would be preferable in
this case to draw the attention of the County Council to the condition of this school, when
I have no doubt they will take means to abate the nuisance.
29th October.
On the 25th June last I reported with reference to certain complaints made as to the
above, one of which referred to the verminous condition of some of the departments. As a
result of this, Class Rooms A, B, C, D and E of the Girls' Department were disinfected
with sulphur at the end of June. At that time I reported that the furniture and
cupboards were very old and contained any number of crevices for harbouring vermin, and
that the space between the door frame and the walls in Class Room B was filled up with
paper and plastered over. Little or nothing was done to remedy these conditions, with
the exception of refilling this space. On the 17th inst. I received two further complaints,
one being from a Manager of the School, that the carpenter had occasion to do some work
which necessitated taking the tops off some of the desks, when he found a lot of vermin on
the under parts. As a consequence of this I visited the school the same afternoon,
together with the District Inspector, and had the tops taken off a few of the desks in each
of the departments, and found evidence of vermin both alive and dead between the iron
stand and the desk top. The larger specimens were obviously ordinary bed bugs, but the
smaller ones had more the appearance of lice and nits, so I had them examined by
Dr. Eyre, of Guy's Hospital, who is a Parasitologist, and he reported they were the eggs
and young of the ordinary bed bug.
In the Girls' and Infants' Departments they were particularly bad, for the specimens
I saw could be numbered by thousands, and gave one an idea of the verminous condition in
which the whole school must be. I have rarely seen a much worse condition in any of the
poorest homes since I have been in Bermondsey, and recommend that a notice be served
on the London County Council under Section 20 of their General Powers Act of 1904
requiring them to take such steps as may be necessary for the purpose of destroying and
removing the vermin.
12th November.
As a result of my letter to the London County Council drawing attention to the
verminous condition of the above, arrangements were at once made to close the schools
from Friday the 25th ult., to the following "Wednesday, and a request was made to this
department to disinfect the whole building. The amount of work to be done being very
large and the time limited, extra assistance had to be obtained and the men worked from
6 a.m. until late at night.
The total number of cubic feet disinfected was 162,840, and the amount of sulphur
used was 819½lbs. The total cost including labour, stores, and an establishment charge of
15 per cent, for the use of pails, brushes, disinfecting pans, ladders, etc., amounted to
£10 5s. 0½d.
The old desks have been replaced by new ones all through the building, except in
the babies' room, and after fumigation the walls and woodwork were washed by the County
Council with a disinfectant.