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52
Standards of cleanliness are laid down in the Rag Flock and Other
Filling Materials Regulations, 1951 in relation to each kind of filling
material described in the regulations, and tests are prescribed which
have to be carried out by approved analysts.
Three premises were registered for the use of filling materials for
upholstery purposes. Samples were taken of cotton felt, coir fibre,
and hair, all three of which were satisfactory. One sample was taken
of millpuff which was satisfactory as regards cleanliness requirements,
but there was evidence of dye material present in a quantity suggestive
of intentional rather than accidental inclusion.
Pet Animals Act, 1951
This Act, which came into force on April 1, 1952, makes it an offence
to keep a pet shop except under licence granted by a local authority
in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Licences are issued on
application, provided a fee of 10s. 0d. is paid and that the premises are
approved by the council's inspectors and subject to conditions specified
in the licence to secure that:—
(i) animals will at all times be kept in accommodation suitable
as respects size, temperature, lighting, ventilation and cleanliness;
(ii) animals will be adequately supplied with suitable food and
drink and (so far as necessary) visited at suitable intervals;
(iii) animals, being mammals, will not be sold at too early an age;
(iv) all reasonable precautions will be taken to prevent the spread
among animals of infectious diseases;
(v) appropriate steps will be taken in case of fire or other emergency
Conditions to be specified in the licences have been approved by
the Metropolitan Boroughs' Standing Joint Committee in order to ensure
uniformity in the metropolitan area, and have been adopted by this
Council.
It is an offence to sell animals as pets in any part of a street or
public place (except at a stall or barrow in a market) and to sell such
animals to a person where there is reasonable cause to believe that
such person is under the age of twelve years.
Premises at which a business is conducted for the purpose of selling
animals as pets includes a private dwelling. A licence is not required
where a person keeps or sells only pedigree animals bred by him or
the offspring of an animal kept by him as a pet, and where a person
sells animals as pets in conjunction with a business of breeding pedigree
animals and where the animals so sold were acquired for breeding or
show purposes and have subsequently been found not to be suitable or
required for such use the local authority may direct that the person
concerned shall not be deemed to keep a pet shop by reason only of his
carrying on the firstmentioned business.
The expression "animal" has a wide definition under the Act
and includes any description of vertebrate.