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24
Factories.
It was not found necessary to serve any notices relating to
insanitary conditions in any factory during the year.
In the Statistical Supplement will be found a table in the form
prescribed by the Minister of Labour and National Service on the
administration of the Factories Act, 1937, dealing with factories
(mechanical and non-mechanical) and outwork.
Rodent Control.
Once again statistics show that although plenty of hard work
has been, and is being, done, the hard work must continue.
In recent years new methods of baiting and new poisons have
been brought into use, but the hard fact remains that we have a
nucleus of about 460 premises that need treatment for either rats
or mice every year.
It appears that other Boroughs are experiencing a similar state
of affairs, i.e., that whilst present efforts are just about keeping the
rat and the mouse within check, no reduction in the general population
of either species has yet been achieved in a large area such
as ours.
Defects in drains continue to be the major single cause of rat
infestations, and in recent years this has been aggravated during the
demolition of old properties when making way for new roads, etc.
This, of course, should stabilise itself.

Atmospheric Pollution.
The stations set up in 1954 for measuring and recording the
extent of atmospheric pollution continued to function during the
year.