London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Stoke Newington 1925
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Stoke Newington, The Metropolitan Borough]
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exception rather than the rule to see a dust-cart reasonably well
covered during the operation of filling it, and very often it is not
covered at all when full.
Our old, overfilled and uncovered, dust-carts are a nuisance
and a bad object-lesson.
RATS AND MICE (DESTRUCTION), ACT, 1919.
The Rats and Mice Destruction Act, 1919, came into operation
on 1st January, 1920. The Council appointed two of your
Inspectors, Messrs. D. W. Matthews and A. P. Piggott, as Rat
Officers to administer the Act in the Borough. This has entailed
an amount of work considerably more than would be implied by a
bare statement of complaints received and dealt with.
The following table shows the number of complaints received since the Administration of the Act commenced:-
| Complaints. | |
|---|---|
| 1920 | 25 |
| 1921 | 29 |
| 1922 | 45 |
| 1923 | 32 |
| 1924 | 54 |
| 1925 | 41 |
| Total | 226 |
In the majority of cases the infestation was traced to defective
drains, the remaining cases being due in nearly every instance to
stray rats having gained access to the premises and breeding there.
It has been found that very frequent points of access are defective
air-bricks and step-risers. One great difficulty in dealing with the
stray rat is the large number of improvised chicken-runs and sheds
in the gardens of the houses in the southern end of the Borough.
Poison has been supplied in a number of cases, but it is difficult to
gauge the efficiency or otherwise of any particular preparation.
However, the absence of further complaints leads us to continue the
use of the preparation which has been in use for the past two years.
On two occasions a ratcatcher was engaged.