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107
and private residents in a district like Bethnal Green
where the prevailing congestion and poverty compel
people to live in close proximity to factories,
warehouses and workplaces of all kinds. On the
other hand, it must be laid down that the maintenance
of good health is a prime consideration and
sufficient sound sleep is one of the requisites for this,
especially for young children. It must also be said
that without public control factory owners are
unlikely to adopt adequate measures to reduce the
noise occasioned by their business. Similar remarks
apply to the unnecessarily loud and disagreeable
noises sometimes emitted by vehicles, hawkers,
shopkeepers etc. A certain amount of attention
has been devoted to traffic noises but the action so
far taken has been very limited. The sounding of
horns at night has been prohibited, but loud motor
engines and excessively noisy starting up nullify
all the benefit from the silencing of horns, while
during the day-time the sounds arising in a busy
thoroughfare can only be described as pandemonium.
RATS AND MICE (DESTRUCTION) ACT, 1919.
No formal notices were served under the Act
during the year. A number of complaints as to rat
infestation have been investigated and dealt with
and occupiers of premises have been advised in the
matter. Poor occupiers have been assisted by the
supply of rat poison, 141 tins of treated biscuits and
2 bottles of Squill being issued in this way, while
455 tins of biscuits were used as baits in the sewers
in the quarterly campaigns described later.
The planned measures for rat destruction for one
week every three months in co-operation with the
Medical Officers of Health and Borough Engineers of
Hackney, Poplar, Shoreditch and Stepney, have been
continued during the year. So far as it is possible to
estimate the result in figures, the following statistics
concerning Bethnal Green illustrate it: