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RODENT CONTROL
In January 1957, the Council decided to promote the Investigator
Rodent Control to the post of Rodent Control Officer
which had previously been filled by a specialist Public Health
Inspector whose death had necessitated some re-arrangement of the
duties of the inspectorial staff. The officer appointed had attended
a two year course on Pest Control at the Borough Polytechnic and
had passed the Intermediate Examination held at its conclusion.
The Rodent Control Officer, who works in close co-operation
with the Wharves Inspectors and the District Public Health Inspectors,
supervises the duties of the Rodent Operators and is
responsible for the inspection of business premises, churches, bomb
sites &c., for the purpose of Part I of the Prevention of Damage by
Pests Act, 1949. The appointment has proved to be most satisfactory
and, apart from a financial saving, has assisted in obviating
the need for filling the vacancy on the inspectorial staff.
Insofar as the treatment of business premises for rat or mice
infestation is concerned, the Council has found it necessary to make
an increased charge because, in practice, it was found that the full
treatment costs were not being recovered. The charge for treatment
of a business premises consisted of labour cost plus overheads,
materials at cost, and an overall administration charge and it was
decided, as an administrative economy, to make a straightforward
"all in" charge of 10/- per man hour as from 1st October.
Sewer Treatment
The following particulars, concerning treatment of the Council's
sewer system, have been supplied by the Borough Engineer.
Each treatment, taking an average of 10 weeks to complete, is
carried out by two men who are solely employed for the purpose.
The first main treatment commenced on 5th February 1957,
using damp sausage rusk as a pre-bait and damp sausage rusks,
zinc phosphide and paranitrophenol as a poison bait.
Takes were recorded as follows:
No. of manholes baited 1,106
„ „ „ showing pre-bait take 1,031
„ „ „ „ complete take 705
„ „ „ „ no take 75
The second main treatment commenced on 29th April 1957
using pinhead oatmeal as pre-bait, and pinhead oatmeal with
ANTU as a poison bait. Dehydroacetic acid was used as a
preservative. Recordings of takes were as follows:
No. of manholes baited 1,110
„ „ „ showing pre-bait take 916
„ „ „ „ complete take 533
„ „ „ „ no take 194