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30
HOUSES LET IN LODGINGS.
The inspection of the Registered Houses Let in Lodgings has
not been complete during the past year or two. The new By-laws
of the London County Council have necessitated the making of a
fresh Register, and this is in progress at the time of writing.
RAT REPRESSION.
Much advice and assistance has been given in response to
complaints made of the presence of rats. These complaints
amounted to 201 during 1921-25. Poison-baits and traps, although
of value, were not an unqualified success; the repair of defective
drains and the stopping of rat runs have been of assistance; but
the employment of a rat-catcher has been necessary on one or two
occasions, and has proved to be the most effective measure of
repression. It should be further stated that we have good grounds
for believing that with sewers maintained in a better state of repair
the rat nuisance could be materially reduced.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Notes and Comments.
THE SHELTER.
The Shelter is a provision which enables those who are in
occupation of one or two rooms only to obtain temporary accommodation
while those rooms are being disinfected after the occurrence
of infectious disease in the home; it also serves for the temporary
isolation of an occasional individual who has come in contact with
dangerous infectious disease and who is very likely to spread
infection if he develops the disease.
The Shelter in Stoke Newington had been for many years of a
very unsatisfactory nature, and, having regard to the grave risks
from Small-pox, the Council recognised that better arrangements
had become urgently necessary. Accordingly, two small shelter
flats were provided in a sufficiently isolated position, and these