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Annual Report of that year. It has proved of considerable assistance in connection with the
identification of persons found drowned in the River Thames. During the year, two bodies
were placed in the apparatus and of these one was subsequently identified.
Fire Inquests.—Dr. F. J. Waldo, J.P., Coroner for the City of London and Southwark,
has kindly furnished me with the following list of places in the City which were the subject
of Fire Inquests held bv him during 1926

In addition to the above, the City Coroner personally inquired into 171 "non-fatal"
City fires reported to him during the year.
RAT REPRESSION.
The Table set out on page 74 indicates the number of investigations and inspections
made and details of work carried out under the Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, 1919,
during the year ended December 31st, 1926. From this summary it will be seen that 1,044
buildings occupied by 2,358 firms were inspected. Of these 412 were found to be ratinfested.
One or other of the rat catchers, working in the City, was engaged by business
firms in 158 instances, poisons were laid down and traps of the break-back variety were
used in 611 instances and wire traps in 149. Varnish traps, which were used in special
circumstances, were relied upon in 252 buildings. Cats and dogs were found to be kept
by 176 firms. Complaints have been received at the Office, or applications for advice, in
143 instances.
The work done in addition to poisons and traps, and the keeping of rodent-destroying
animals, include rat-proofing in 341 instances, and the repair of drainage defects in 391
others. In this relationship it should be stated that rat-proofing cannot be relied upon
absolutely to exclude rodents from buildings, for reasons I have pointed out from time to
time, e.g., the importation of rats into buildings in cases and crates from the docks and ingress
through open doors and windows, especially through roof doors provided for exit in case
of fire. The value of properly carried out rat-proofing should not be under-estimated for
by this means food is protected, the domestic water supply is guarded, fire risk is lessened,
insanitary defects are remedied which might otherwise remain undiscovered, and rats are
more easily reduced in numbers, since hiding places are eliminated, and absence of hiding
places results in a decrease of the rat population.
I have pointed out in previous reports that the construction of many City buildings is
such as to render rat-proofing practically impossible, and, further, that the owners who are
the only persons competent to deal structurally with the buildings, are not responsible under
the Act. A large number of old buildings have been demolished throughout the City during
the year, and in the course of demolition numbers of rats, which were disturbed, found harbourage
in neighbouring buildings, manv of which had not been previously infested.

The number of drains reconstructed, carried out under the supervision of the Inspectors
attached to my own department, is set out on page 74. It was not found necessary in any
case either to serve statutory notices or to take legal proceedings.
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