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16
Poisons.
The names of seventy-three traders were on the Council's list of persons entitled to sell poisons
included in Part II of the Poisons List (Pharmacy and Poisons Acts, IS52 to l!HI), the promises
concerned numbering eighty-seven.
Rag Flock and Other Filling Materials.
The Rag Flock and Other Filling Materials Act, 1951 is intended to ensure that the fillings for
upholstered and other stuffed articles shall be clean and wholesome. Standards of cleanliness are laid
down in Regulations made under the Act, which also provides for licensing of premises where the
fillings are manufactured or stored and registration by the local authority of all business premises
where these materials are used. No premises in St. Marylebone are licensed for manufacture or storage
but eleven premises, mainly those of upholsterers and manufacturers of cushions and pillows, are
registered. Four samples of hair and other filling materials were taken during the year and submitted
to a prescribed analyst who reported that all complied with the statutory requirements.
Public Conveniences.
The usual supervision was exercised over the public sanitary conveniences and urinals. There are
in the Borough nine conveniences and five urinals for men and six conveniences for women. The free
washing scheme, with paper towels and liquid soap, which was introduced to encourage personal
hygiene and prevent the spread of disease, is now well established in its seventh year. It has become
extremely popular with the general public and is a facility which they appear to expect as a matter
of course.
The staffing problem again caused concern but despite some difficulty the conveniences were manned
during the usual opening hours throughout the year with the exception of Wellington Place (men and
women) and St. John's Wood Road (men) which were left open but unattended for some hours during
the staff holiday period. During this time no wilful damage of any kind occurred.
A new public convenience for men and women on the Violet Hill Gardens site was opened on the
13th May. No full-time staff are attached to these premises and arrangements for their general
cleansing and maintenance by the urinal flusher, who calls twice daily, with help from the woman
attendant at Wellington Place once or twice a week, have been satisfactory. There was at first some
minor damage to fittings, etc., caused by irresponsible persons but incidents of this kind have been
stopped by the vigilance of the gardens caretaker.
Public Cleansing and Salvage.
The Director of Public Cleansing has kindly provided the following information on these services.
The materials dealt with in 1955 were :— house and trade refuse, 35,445 tons; street sweepings
and gully slop, 2,594 tons; salvaged materials, 1,866 tons. The sum of £13,865 was obtained from
the sale of salvaged materials. In addition, £1,143 was received for the removal of trade refuse and
green offal and for the cleansing of petrol interceptors.
The Council ceased to separate and bale salvaged wastepaper, cardboard and fibreboard at their
Wharf at Paddington as from the 31st October, 1955, for disposal under contract to Thames Board
Mills Ltd., of Purfleet, Essex. With effect from that date all wastepaper, etc., collected in St. Marylebone
was disposed of as loose cardboard and mixed paper in sacks to Phillips, Mills & Co., Ltd., at Battersea,
S.W.I I, a subsidiary company of the Contractors.
Two new diesel powered vehicles were put into service for the removal of portable containers from
blocks of flats, etc.
Refuse was removed from all premises within the Borough at least twice weekly and in many cases
a thrice-weekly collection was provided. All street gullies were cleansed mechanically at least six times
during the year and the minimum once-daily sweeping of streets was maintained, considerable use
being made of the mechanical sweeping machines. The amount of time spent on washing streets by
a watering tank was more than doubled last year, particularly because of the prolonged hot dry summer.
Burial or Cremation of the Dead.
Under the provisions of section 50 of the National Assistance Act, 1948, it is a duty of the Council
to cause to be buried or cremated the body of any person who has died or been found dead in the
Borough, where no other suitable arrangements for disposal of the body have been or are being made.
The procedure set up when the section became operative on the 5th July, 1948, continued to work
satisfactorily and during 1955 seven burials were undertaken by the Council.