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40
HYGIENE OF HAIRDRESSERS' AND BARBERS' SHOPS.
The Registered Hairdressers' establishments throughout the City remain under the
supervision of your officers.
One change of proprietorship has occurred.
The usual list of registered premises is not included here as in some instances the
yearly renewal of the licences granted by the Corporation, has not been completed in
view of the circumstances of the War and the question of the employment of alien
enemy assistants.
SMOKE AND ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION.
Nineteen instances of smoke nuisance or annoyance from chimneys were dealt
with during the year. Some of these were of a temporary character and did not recur,
others were abated upon the service of the usual form of notice upon the offenders and
there has been no occasion to take further action.
As mentioned in previous reports the annoyance and the evil from coal smoke
cannot satisfactorily be dealt with by law until the enactments at present in force are
strengthened or amended. The accompanying dirt and discomfort continues, although
doubtless in a lesser degree than in former years, and for which the enormous number
of the chimneys in surrounding Greater London are partly largely responsible.
During the year 1914, with the concurrence of your Sanitary Committee—in
conjunction with the Committee for the Investigation of Atmospheric Pollution,
appointed by the International Exhibition and Conference in London, 1912—a critical
examination of the air in the City was commenced.
An apparatus consisting of a large rain gauge, was placed in a convenient position
upon the roof of the shelter in Golden Lane, and the rainwater from a known area of
surface is collected monthly. This rainwater containing the soot, grit and dust washed
from the air has been submitted for examination to the Public Analyst and the results
tabulated. For comparison the results obtained from similar observations made upon
the Thames Embankment by the London County Council are added.