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19
By-Laws as to Houses let-in-lodgings.
At the end of the year 484 houses were registered under these By-laws. Of
these, 236 are in St. Giles and Bloomsbury and 248 in the Holborn District.
There were 776 inspections of these premises, excluding a very large number
of periodical inspections and re-inspections. Two hundred notices were served
for breaches of the By-laws, in addition to 484 notices that were served for annual
cleansing as required by the By-laws.
During the year an Inspector reported the failure of a tenant to admit work¬men
instructed by the landlord to carry out cleansing work required by the By-laws.
A communication addressed to the tenant pointing out the right of entry conferred
on the owner by the Housing Act, 1925, secured the necessary facilities for the
admission of the workmen.
Rag and Bone Dealers.
Forty-three inspections of rag and bone shops were made in the year 1931; no
breach was found of the By-laws made by the London County Council for regulating
the conduct of this business.
Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, 1919.
During the year 239 premises were inspected under the above Act, the total
inspections being 329. Nine notices for breaches of the Act were served. As a
result in eight cases rat proofing was carried out and in the ninth case proofing
work was in hand at the end of the year. In addition to the proofing, poisons
and traps were used. At the end of the year all the premises were reported to be
clear of infestation.
The general arrangements made by the Council for rat repression included : —
(1) Systematic baiting in the Council's sewers, the bait used being small cubes of bread
soaked in liquid extract of red squills and " Dalroc " which are found to be more effective
than barium carbonate. The baits were laid in the sewers weekly during the year and four
times during the first week in November, a total of approximately 30,000 baits being used
during the year. The men who work in the sewers report that the baits were taken and dead
rats occasionally seen, some probably being washed away.
(2) The services of the Council's workmen were available for rat proofing subject to the
cost of such service and the material used being defrayed by the owners or occupiers of the
premises where the work was carried out.
(3) Arrangements were continued with firms of rat catchers for dealing with rat infested
premises at the cost of the occupiers. This arrangement has proved useful and reports are
from time to time received from the rat catchers employed respecting their inspections of
the premises and the work ultimately carried out.
Where rat catchers are employed under the arrangements made by the Council,
information is given to the Medical Officer of Health by the firms employed
as to the work done and the results, but in many cases these or other firms are
called in apart from the Council's arrangements and information in such cases
may not be given to the local authority.
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