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20
in the receiving countries. The normal charge for this service
is five shillings per parcel.
Regular visits were also paid during the year to two
hospitals for the disinfection of wards and laundry. Since July,
1959 a regular weekly collection of approximately 100 blankets
has been made from one hospital. Woollen articles are liable
to be damaged if they are subject to repeated sterilization at
a high temperature and these blankets are given a modified treatment
which has been found by experiment to give a satisfactory
degree of disinfection without causing damage. The blankets
are folded to meet the requirements of the hospital authorities
before being returned.
The destruction of wasps' nests is also carried out by
the department. Forty-two nests were destroyed, approximately
half the number dealt with in the previous year.
CARE OF THE AGED
The proportion of old people in the community is
increasing and advances in medicine ensure that an increasing
proportion of people reach old age. Aged persons are usually
defined as people who have reached the accepted retiring age of
60 years for women or 65 years for men.
Many of these people would not describe themselves as
old but in the great majority of cases they have reached the end
of their working lives. Some who are fortunate enough to have
their own businesses continue working long after the accepted
retiring age and others continue in either paid or unpaid occupations,
but there are many who have to retire against their will but yet
feel that they are capable of paying their way in the world.
Some of these people find great difficulty in obtaining
employment which is within their capabilities and employers
who are required to pay a fixed rate for a particular job naturally
prefer a younger person in most cases. There is a point of
view that people who have worked regularly for forty years or
more are entitled to a rest but many of these elderly people feel
not that they are being given a rest, but that they are being placed
on the rubbish heap.