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London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1953
Section 43 of the above Act states that, on receipt of a report from
the medical officer of health or a sanitary inspector that any aged person
within their district is verminous or is for any other reason in need of
cleansing in order to prevent injury or the danger of injury and is so
enfeebled that he is unable to avail himself of any facilities for cleansing
himself provided by the authority or to cleanse himself properly, the
sanitary authority may on application or with the consent of that
person (but not otherwise) cause him to be cleansed free of charge at
the place where he resides or at any other suitable place. The authority
is enabled to make such arrangements and provide any apparatus
required to exercise these powers.
No person received treatment during the year.
Anti-fly and anti-mosquito campaign
The campaign started with four men working in pairs but it was
found that, when two of the men resigned, two men, each working with
his own van, were able to carry out the necessary work, which has been
reduced by the development of many of the sites over the years.
The campaign was held from April 28 to September 25 and Mr.
Phillips, the deputy senior public health inspector who is in charge of
anti-pest work reports:— "366 sites, grass verges and rear garage ways
were visited on 6 occasions each and necessary treatment carried out by
spraying or the use of powder. The material collected or destroyed on
the sites consisted of 110 mattresses and a large quantity of miscellaneous
articles such as carpets, linoleum, furniture and clothing. Most of this
rubbish was taken direct to the wharf at Greenwich because of the
difficulty of destroying it on the site when wet. On a few occasions,
however, when the material was reasonably dry it was destroyed by
burning."
The co-operation of the Borough Engineer's department was once
again available for the treatment of dustbins with a powder supplied
by the health department. The powder contained gammexane and was
applied to dustbins at the time of refuse collection. Altogether some 4
tons of powder containing 0.5 per cent, gamma benzene hexachloride
was used.
5 stables or piggeries, and one plot of land known to be particularly
bad as a rubbish tip were treated as special sites and visited on 20