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56
complained of rats. They were offered rat poison and instructed
how to use it but the offer was refused. The family owed nearly
a year's rent.
10. The father was a comparatively young man who had
married a war widow much older than himself and had adopted her
6 children by a former husband. There were 2 children of the
present marriage. The parents and 6 children occupied one room
at a weekly rental of 5s. 4d. per week. One son was in Scotland
because there was no room for him at home. One daughter stayed
with her grandmother in Ireland. The father earned 42s. per week.
The total income of the family was said to be 74s. per week. The
ages of the 6 children at home ranged from 1 month to 18 years.
DISINFECTION.
The Finsbury Disinfecting Station is at 49, Northampton
Road, Clerkenwell. Here provision is made for the housing and
accommodation of families during the disinfection of their premises
after infectious disease, and for the reception of small pox contacts,
and of suspected cases of smallpox during the incubation period.
The " shelter " was used on four occasions only in 1925, by three
families from Finsbury, and one family from Holborn. The
Holborn Metropolitan Borough is allowed to use this shelter by an
agreement made between the two Boroughs, dated 4th October,
1911, and terminable at the pleasure of either Council. The payment
by the Holborn Borough Council was increased from £10 per
annum to £37 10s. per annum as from 1st August, 1922. The
disinfector is a Washington-Lyons high-pressure steam apparatus.
In 1925, 946 separate rooms were disinfected, of which 97 were
for measles, 36 after notification of phthisis, 12 after deaths from
phthisis, 283 after scarlet fever, 252 after diphtheria, 67 after other
diseases, 98 on account of vermin, and 101 on request. In addition,
bedding and mattresses were steam disinfected for the following
institutions: Claremont Hall Creche, St. Barnabas' Home, St.
Mark's Hospital, Women's League of Service.
Altogether, 13,158 articles were disinfected in connection
with cases of infectious disease and phthisis. These were chiefly
mattresses, pillows, bolsters, sheets, blankets, quilts and wearing