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
Holborn 1923
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health, for the year 1923
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14
of red squills. Most success appears to have been obtained by exposing bait made
by saturating small pieces of stale bread (25 to the pound) with this liquid
preparation.
In the Report of the Director-General of Public Health, New South Wales,
for the year 1922 in Sydney, the subject of rat poisoning is dealt with. Dr. E. W.
Ferguson writes:—"The tests with barium carbonate were unsatisfactory, in
that it was difficult to make the rat eat the baits, even when other food was withheld.
The fiction of red squills was found to be variable, probably depending on
the age of the preparation. Some samples were quite inert, but one bottle proved
to be efficient, and graduated doses showed that 2¼ c.c. was lethal though 1 c.c.
was not."
(2) The services of one of the Council's workmen has been available for the
purpose of rat proofing, the cost of such service and material used being defrayed
by the occupiers of premises where work is carried out.
(3) The arrangement made by the Council with two firms of rat catchers for
dealing with rat infested premises at the cost of the occupier has proved useful;
in a number of cases considerable work in connection with rat repression and rat
proofing has been carried out.
The following firms of rat-catchers carry out work connected with rat repression for owners and occupiers in the Borough at the following rates:—
| Small Houses 8 rooms. | Stables 10 horses. | Shops small. | Hotels, &c., ard large shops. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dalton & Son | 10s. per night | – | – | £1 10s. per night |
| Howard & Sons | £1 5s. per house | £1 10s. | £2 2s. | To be quoted for separately. |
In the Annual Report for 1922 reference was made to resolutions adopted by
the Council and a number of other Metropolitan Borough Councils in favour of
legislation requiring owners or occupiers of property to notify the local sanitary
authority on ceasing to use any drain or similar sanitary fitting and for making it
an offence to cease to use any such drain without sufficient sealing off.
Clauses to deal with the matter were included in the London County Council
General Powers Bill, 1923, but having regard to certain points of difficulty were
ultimately withdrawn for further consideration. The difficulties referred to arose
in connection with a proposal that owners and occupiers should become liable for
the sealing off of drains already disused at the time of the passing of legislation
as well as those which might become disused after that time. It appeared that
hardship might be caused to owners or occupiers by these requirements, because
such owners or occupiers might be in no way responsible for the existence of such
disused drains.
As a result of further consideration by the London County Council it was
suggested that in the case of drains, the use of which had already been abandoned
at the time of passing of legislation, the owner or occupier if he had knowledge