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21
Rodent control
A section, consisting from May to September of a foreman and
three operatives and from October to April of the foreman and five
operatives, is maintained for the purpose of repressing rat infestation,
and this section is supervised by the senior public health inspector.
In his report on rodent control work during 1960, Mr. Phillips,
the senior public health inspector, states:
"The rivers still appear to be one of the main sources of infestation
and extensive baiting of the banks and the gassing of holes has undoubtedly
helped to keep the rat population at a reasonable level.
The infestation in many houses was found to be due to defective drains
and as soon as the drains were repaired the infestation was quickly cleared.
The laying up of rats under garden sheds is another problem which
has to be carefully watched. A great deal of the blame for rat infestation
must still be placed upon the general public for throwing out bread
and other scraps of food for birds, particularly late in the day, when
it is taken by rats and stored under nearby garden sheds. Other infestations
were dealt with by the use of warfarin and other poisons. The use of
sodium fluoracetate in sewers seems to be proving very effective and it is
hoped that this may lead to a decrease of surface infestations in due
course."
The undermentioned table gives a summary of the work on the rivers
and ditches, prebait being laid on 3/4 days:

Special liaison is made with the Borough Engineer's Department
for the treatment of sewers. In consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food, and the Borough Engineer, a scheme was
worked out (which commenced in April 1960) for continuous baiting
of the sewer manholes in place of the usual twice yearly treatment.
The poison used is sodium fluoracetate (1080). The use of this highly
toxic substance is mainly confined at the present time to the baiting of
sewers. The Ministry have trained a number of the Council's sewermen
in the technique of sewer baiting and the correct handling and use of
this particular posion.
Continuous baiting of 3040 sewer manholes, each dosed with sodium
fluoracetate, was carried out three times during the year. Prebait
checks over the same number of manholes showed approximately 290
takes, which is a great reduction from the original figure of around
700 takes under the old twice annual treatment.