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character taken down and cleansed, the bedding, clothing, carpets, mats
and rugs removed for treatment in the disinfecting apparatus, and the
bedstead and other articles of furniture which may be infested with
vermin thoroughly cleansed, and, if necessary, treated with a blow lamp.
Arrangements also have to be made for the whole of the family to attend
at the Cleansing Station while this is in progress. This complete
cleansing of the home and the occupants is the only means by which
any substantial good can be achieved in the direction of effectually
eradicating verminous conditions. Amongst many families of the
poorer classes it is quite impossible for them to attain the required
standard of cleanliness and freedom from vermin unless the local
authority is prepared to give them the opportunity of starting in a
cleanly state, and I have been assured by the School Authorities that
the cases where it has been possible to deal with the homes and
families in this way have been followed by the most satisfactory results,
besides which the moral effect in the neighbourhood has been good; but
the present facilities at my disposal have not enabled me to deal with
more than a small percentage of the total number of cases referred to
me. The policy of dealing with the matter in this thorough way has
also had the satisfactory result of causing certain undesirable families
to leave the Borough rather than submit to the cleansing.
Cleansing of Persons Act. 1897.
Under the provisions of this Statute 20 persons, apart from School
Children, attended at the Cleansing Station and were cleansed. At
the same time their clothes were freed from vermin by being passed
through the Disinfecting Apparatus.
Customs and Inland Revenue Acts.
These Acts provide that the owners of premises that are let in
dwellings of a certain class may claim exemption or abatement from
inhabited house duty on producing a certificate from the Medical Officer
of Health that the dwellings afford proper sanitary accommodation for
the occupants. During the year applications for certificates under these
Acts were received in respect of 57 dwellings, this number being 45
more than the number for which applications were made in 1911.
Three dwellings were certified during the year, the owners having
carried out the works necessary to obtain the certificate.