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business of selling animals as pets or keeping them with a view to sale.
"Animal" is defined as "any species of vertebrate." Licences are
renewable annually, and a fee of 10s. may be charged for them. In
considering an application for a licence, the Council must have regard
to the need for securing:—
(a) that animals will at all times be kept in accommodation suitable
as regards size, temperature, lighting, ventilation and
cleanliness;
(b) that animals will be adequately supplied with suitable food
and drink, and (so far as necessary) visited at suitable intervals;
(c) that mammals will not be sold at too early an age;
(d) that all reasonable precautions will be taken to prevent spread
of infectious disease among animals;
(e) that appropriate steps will be taken in case of fire or other
emergency.
These matters are without prejudice to the Council's discretion to
withhold a licence on other grounds. It is also required that the licence
shall specify such conditions as the Council consider necessary to secure
all or any of the objects set out above. In this connection the Council
adopted a standard set of conditions prepared by the Metropolitan
Boroughs' Standing Joint Committee. A person aggrieved by the refusal
of a licence, or by any condition subject to which it is proposed to be
granted, has a right of appeal to a Court of Summary Jurisdiction.
Licences were issued in respect of 13 shops, and 15 visits were
made during the year.
Heating Appliances (Fireguards) Act, 1952.
This Act received Royal assent on the 1st August, 1952, but did
not come into operation until the 23rd March, 1953, the date fixed by
Order of the Secretary of State. It is enforceable by the Council, who
have authorised the Medical Officer of Health, the Deputy Medical
Officer of Health, and the Sanitary Inspectors to act on their behalf.
The Act prohibits, subject to certain minor exceptions, the sale
or exposure for sale, or the letting or offer for letting under a hirepurchase
agreement or on hire, of any appliance required by Regulations
to be made under the Act to be fitted with a guard, if either the guard
is not fitted or it does not comply with the standard prescribed for
by the Regulations.
The Regulations, known as the Heating Appliances (Fireguards)
Regulations, 1953, were made by the Secretary of State and came into
operation on the 1st October, 1953, except in regard to appliances
manufactured in Great Britain before that date. For the latter, the
operative date will be 1st October, 1954. The Regulations prescribe
that every heating appliance of a type which is so designed that it is
suitable for use in a dwelling house or other residential premises shall
be fitted with a guard which shall be robustly made and securely
attached to the appliance, and shall satisfy certain tests which are set
out in a Schedule to the Regulations. These tests comprise a loading
test of rigidity, the use of probes of specified shapes and dimensions
to check the mesh of the guard, and the placing of flannelette on the
guard while the fire is alight, the requirement being that the flannelette
must not smoulder or ignite within a period of ten seconds.