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97
One hundred and thirty-two notices were served last year
requiring the disinfestation of verminous premises. Below I have
indicated the number of houses dealt with:—
No. of Council houses found to be infested 26
No. of Council houses disinfested 26
No. of other houses found to be infested 146
No. of other houses disinfested 146
The belongings of tenants before removal to the Council's
flats are inspected by the Sanitary Inspectors. Bedding is treated
by steam disinfection, and other articles are sprayed with a
vermicide, and the tenants instructed as to the methods to be
adopted to rid, as far as possible, the articles from vermin.
A special pamphlet is in use for this purpose.
Tenants are encouraged to destroy all useless articles prior
to removal.
Use has not yet been made of hydrogen cyanide, the difficulty
being the absence of a suitable site for the purpose.
One fatality occurred last year as the result of the fumigation
of an unoccupied semi-detached house. The Borough Council
was in no way concerned with the fumigation, which was carried
out by a company at the request of the representatives of an
estate in the Borough.
It appeared that in spite of the precautions taken, a heavy
concentration of gas, hydrogen cyanide, got through the party wall
into an occupied basement room.
This unfortunate occurrence shows that it is very inadvisable
to undertake fumigation with HCN unless adjoining premises are
vacated.
At the request of a private estate, arrangements were made
for the steam disinfection of bedding and similar articles belonging
to tenants removing from the Borough to new flats in Islington.
The furniture was disinfected by a company at the request of
the owner.
The belongings of 108 families were dealt with.