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and treatment of all applications for grant must be impartial.
This kind of problem cannot be satisfactorily resolved at local level,
and it is desirable for more precise guidance on such points of detail to be
widely circulated by the Central Government Department.
Staff
The work involved in implementing the Council's smoke control plan
will be considerable. The Ministry requires detailed analysis of costs both
at the estimate stage and also when final accounts are rendered. It may be
hoped that the Ministry will be willing to dispense with some of the details in
future areas when satisfied that the Council is working on the right lines.
At present every dwelling in an area has to be visited during the preliminary
survey. After confirmation of an Order, proposals from householders
must be approved, and in some cases it is necessary to make another inspection
to settle doubtful points. When the work has been completed it must be inspected,
and finally the accounts must be carefully scrutinised before the grant
is paid.
Surveying a Smoke Control Area
"High class residential roads with elegant houses standing in extensive
gardens, tastefully furnished and decorated, with open log fireplaces or dog
grates standing in beautifully designed marble surrounds. " Such is a description
of properties encountered in part of the first Smoke Control Area to
be surveyed by the public health inspectors.
It was soon realised that adaptations of expensive and elaborate fireplaces
would set many technical problems not invisaged in the Memorandum on
Smoke Control Areas issued for the guidance of local authorities.
Householders in the area were generally very interested and many
problems, both of a technical and controversial nature were discussed when
the inspectors interviewed them at their premises. The question of the best
method of adapting or converting the fireplaces had to be decided together with
an estimate of the cost. The majority of householders expressed their approval
of the establishment of Smoke Control Areas and many people wished to be enlightened
as to the relative efficiency of the smokeless fuels and the relative
costs of usage. In some cases the inspector was even asked to give a brief
description of the method of manufacture of the smokeless fuels and some idea
of the carbon, gaseous, and ash content.
During the course of the survey every endeavour was made to give advice
and all possible assistance to anyone who made a genuine and interested enquiry,
with the result that many persons who at first were not in favour of the proposed
Order, were persuaded that the campaign for clean air was in fact consistent
with the general advance in living conditions. The survey, therefore, was regarded
by the public health inspectors not only as a detailed gathering of in-
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