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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 by him during 1929 :—
INQUESTS HELD UNDER THE CITY OF LONDON FIRE INQUESTS ACT, 1888.
Date of Inquest. Premises Burnt.
3rd and 11th June, 1929 5, Lower Thames Street.
17th and 25th June, and 2nd July, 1929 Victoria Embankment, L.C.C. Subway.
In addition to the above, the City Coroner personally inquired into 207 "non-fatal"
City fires reported to him during the year.
DISINFECTANTS.
The disinfectants and other chemicals in use in the Public Health Department and in
other branches of the Corporation's service, have, as in the past, been supplied under a contract
prepared by your Medical Officer of Health.
They are used for deodorising and denaturising unsound meat, disinfecting public
conveniences, streets and roadways, premises after infectious diseases, etc.
Special attention was given to the thoroughfares in the vicinity of the Billingsgate and
Smithfield Markets, the former of which presents certain difficulties in the matter of deodorisation
in the summer months.
Very few complaints were, however, received of offensive odours necessarily associated
with the fish trade.
RAT REPRESSION.
The table set out on page 76 indicates the investigations and advisory work of your
rat officer under the Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act, 1919.
1,094 buildings, occupied by 1,891 firms, were inspected. Of these, 376 were found
to be infested. One or other of the rat-catchers working in the City was engaged by business
firms in 168 instances, and poisons were laid down in 308. Break-back, wire and other traps
were used in 410 premises. Varnish traps were relied on in 246 buildings. Cats or dog's
were kept by 186 firms. Complaints or applications for advice numbered 132. In addition
to the above palliative measures, preventive rat-proofing was carried out in 333 instances,
and repair of drainage defects in 1,173.
The Act lays the duty of disinfesting a premises found to harbour rats on the occupier ;
this disinfesting is not the work of your officer who, however, knowing the habits of rats,
is in a position to suggest measures to the occupiers which are likely to be effective.
There are no figures, even approximate, obtainable of the total number of rats killed.
The firm of Messrs. Wm. Dalton & Son inform me that they killed nearly 24,000 in the City
during the year. A certain decrease of infestation is suggested by the number of buildings
newly constructed, the demolition of old houses and constant attention to drainage and
sewerage work. The brown, or wild rat, is not in evidence so much as is the black, or domestic
species. With increasing confinement of the wild rat to the sewers, and an environment
above ground increasingly unsuited to its habit of breeding, this is to be expected.
Though proofing cannot entirely exclude rodents from buildings, the measure is of first
importance in keeping down their numbers ; all new buildings should afford a reasonably
rat-proof condition. In many old buildings proofing is practically impossible, and in some,
where good might be effected, the owners, whose duty it would naturally become, are not
responsible under the Act and cannot be called upon to incur the necessary expenditure.
Demolition of old buildings liable to infestation should be preceded by poison baiting ;
the usual objection to poison is not valid in this case, and the precaution may prevent the
over-running of adjacent property hitherto uninfested.