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55
From time to time in recent years it has become necessary to deal with vermin
infestation in new or comparatively new dwellings. It is found that usually the
infestation arises from infested furniture brought by the incoming tenants into
the new dwellings from verminous rooms formerly occupied by them. To prevent
risk of such infestation, particularly in regard to new occupations of municipal
dwellings, arrangements have been made for furniture disinfestation by the
hydrocyanic gas method. This has been made practicable by an agreement with
the Council of the Royal Borough of Kensington. The procedure is that the
infested furniture is removed in the morning in a special type van and after disinfestation
is delivered in the evening of the same day at the new home. The
bedding is collected by the Council's staff treated in the steam disinfector and
delivered at the new home at approximately the same time as the furniture.
A leaflet on the subject of vermin infestation is distributed to tenants, setting
out the steps which should be taken to deal with bugs, and giving emphatic
warning against the use of second-hand furniture before it has been inspected by
the Council's staff and any necessary disinfestation carried out.
Cancer.
During the year 1937, 66 deaths were recorded as due to Cancer in comparison
with 67 in the previous year. The deaths in 1937 were equal to a rate of 1.81 per
thousand, the corresponding rate in 1936 being 1.93 per thousand.