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views were subsequently conveyed by the Standing Joint Committee to the working party for consideration.
No further action was taken on the matter during 1954 but experimental work proceeded in
other districts in London and this was kept under observation by the London County Council and the
five Borough Councils concerned. The results of these experiments are awaited with interest. A
survey of the St. Marylebone Borough Council's sewers was continued by the Borough Engineer and
information on the present conditions will be of help when the matter is considered further.
Building Licences.—Thirty-four applications for building licences were referred to the Department
by the Borough Engineer for observations in relation to proposals concerning drainage, ventilation
and underground rooms, and also in cases where work had been called for by sanitary notices. On
10th November, 1954, the Minister of Housing and Local Government freed all building work of control
by licence.
Public Houses.—Sanitary Accommodation.—Plans were approved for the provision of adequate accommodation
in a further five licensed premises and in four of these work was completed during the year.
Work in the fifth was proceeding as the year closed. One public house, which was completely destroyed
during the war, is to be rebuilt with flats above the licensed premises. Drainage plans for the scheme
have been approved.
Public Conveniences.—The usual supervision was exercised over the public sanitary conveniences
and urinals. There are in the Borough eight conveniences and five urinals for men and five conveniences
for women. The free washing scheme, with paper towels and liquid soap, now in its sixth year, which
was introduced to encourage personal hygiene and prevent the spread of disease, has become extremely
popular with the general public and is a facility which they now appear to expect to find as a matter
of course.
In spite of the staffing problem, all the conveniences were fully manned during the usual opening
hours throughout the year.
A new public convenience for men and women, on the Violet Hill Gardens site, was in the course of
construction during the year and should be completed and ready for use by the general public in May,
1955. It is proposed not to staff these premises but to arrange for their general cleansing and maintenance
by the staff from nearby conveniences.
Public Cleansing and Salvage.—The Director of Public Cleansing has kindly provided the following
information on these services.
The materials dealt with in 1954 were: house and trade refuse 37,179 tons; street sweepings and
gully slop, 2,474 tons; salvaged materials (including kitchen waste) 1,564 tons. The sum of £10,267 was
obtained from the sale of salvaged materials. In addition, £968 was received for the removal of trade
refuse and green offal and for the cleansing of petrol interceptors.
As from 8th February, 1954 the Council ceased to collect kitchen waste by direct labour, arrangements
having been made for collection of this material to be undertaken by a private contractor on their
behalf. At about the same time the street communal kitchen waste bin scheme was also discontinued
and the bins withdrawn owing to the high proportion of unsuitable refuse placed in the bins, the relatively
low quality and protein value of the waste collected and nuisance caused by animals interfering
with the bins. Until the end of March the bulk of the street sweepings and slop collected by the Council
was sent to Surridges Wharf at Nine Elms Lane for disposal. Since then, this Wharf having closed
down, these materials have been sent to the Westminister City Council's Depot at Gatliff Road,
S.W.I.
Dustbins.—Following conflicting decisions from time to time reached in the Courts on the question
whether the owner or occupier of premises was liable to provide a dustbin, some Boroughs experienced
difficulty in securing the provision of dustbins under section 105 of the Public Health (London) Act,
1936 as amended by the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1951. As a result, at the request
of the Metropolitan Boroughs' Standing Joint Committee, legislation was promoted in the London
County Council (General Powers) Act, 1954, amending the law so that sanitary authorities are now
empowered to require the owner of premises, and not the occupier, to provide dustbins. In default of
the owner, the sanitary authority may supply dustbins and proceed against him to recover the cost.
Pet Shops.—The Pet Animals Act, 1951, which came into force on the 1st April, 1952, provides for
a system of inspection and annual licensing of pet shops by local authorities, a fee of 10s. being
payable in respect of each licence. At the end of the year ten premises remained on the register.
Eighteen visits were paid to pet shops by the sanitary inspectors.