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the task of eradicating vermin will be dealt with comprehensively by a single authority. Should
the London County Council on the other hand be driven, by the failure of the Borough Councils,
to make their own provision for school children, they cannot deal with adults, and the children will
become re-infested after each cleansing by contact in their homes with verminous members of their
families who are not of school age, and for this work, which would be bound to fail in its object,
the Borough Council would pay as heavily through the Education Rate as they would through the
Borough Rate in the event of a station of their own being provided, with the added disadvantage
of having no direct control over the amount spent.
Under the circumstances it is much to be regretted that the very considerable labours of the
Baths and Infectious Diseases Sub-Committees, who have submitted a number of reports on this
subject, should have failed to bring about the provision of a cleansing station which is so
eminently necessary for the well-being of the children attending the elementary schools.
At the meeting of the Council on July 10th, the following motion was put and carried by
29 votes against 20.
" That in the opinion of this Council it is necessary that a Cleansing Station for verminous
persons, including children, should be established in North Kensington, any resolution or
resolutions by the Council to the contrary notwithstanding, and that it be referred to the
Public Health Committee to bring up a scheme for the provision by the Council of such a
Cleansing Station."
A resolution that the Council do affirm the principle that a Cleansing Station shall be provided
for the Borough having been lost by 29 votes to 21, at a meeting of the Council on November
7th, 1911, it was held that the rescinding motion of July l6th had failed, in that it was not supported
bv the two-thirds majority which would have been necessary to render it an effective resolution.
Verminous Rooms-406 verminous rooms were cleansed during the year in response to
notices served under the powers conferred by the London County Council General Powers Act, 1904,
26 beds were disinfested, 13 verminous beds were destroyed, and 124 dirty beds were cleansed.
THE RAG FLOCK ACT, 1911.
This Act came into operation on July 1st, 1912, and read in conjunction with the Regulations
made under Section 1, prohibits the sale of flock manufactured from rags which contain more
than 30 parts of chlorine in the form of chlo.rides in 100,000 parts of flock. The Chief Sanitary
Inspector and the ten District Sanitary Inspectors have been appointed to exercise the various
powers conferred by the Act in the manner prescribed by Sub-section 5 of Section 1.
Fifty-seven premises in the Borough have been placed on the register of places where rag
flock is used or likely to be used in various branches of upholstering work. Of this number only
two firms are engaged in the making of new beds on an extensive scale. Thirty-one firms describe
themselves as furniture dealers and upholsterers, and seventeen as cabinet makers and upholsterers.
Seven are coach builders and state that horse hair only is used in their work. Only 17 firms in
all admit that rag flock is used on their premises. Eight use shoddy and rugging; three use
rugging only, and six use shoddy only. The rag flock used in the Borough comes from nine
different wholesale sources, but 8 out of the 17 retail firms obtain their flock from the two makers
of new beds already referred to, whose premises are in Kensington, and who supply flock wholesale
to local traders. Two samples of shoddy were taken during the year, and contained respectively
6 and 14 parts of chlorine per 100,000.

It is satisfactory to note that the number of washers exceeded 76,000.