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Diseased or Infirm Persons—Compulsory Removal.
Section 47 of the National Assistance Act, 1948, as amended by the National Assistance (Amendment)
Act, 1951, empowers the Council to apply to the Courts for Orders for the removal to a hospital or
institution, for the purposes of securing the necessary care and attention, of persons who—
(a) are suffering from grave chronic disease or, being aged, infirm or physically incapacitated, are
living in insanitary conditions, and,
(b) are unable to devote to themselves, and are not receiving from other persons, proper care and
attention.
It is seldom necessary to follow this procedure, except in distressing cases which sometimes occur
of old persons who, although no longer able to look after themselves and living in conditions which
make it impossible for them to be nursed at home, refuse to enter a home or hospital voluntarily.
During the year it was necessary to obtain Orders and remove to hospital three such old persons,
particulars of whom are given in Table 4, page 32.
Staff Medical Examinations.
The Medical Officer of Health is medical adviser for the purposes of the Council's superannuation
scheme. During 1957, eighty-five examinations of members of the staff and new entrants were
carried out.
New Legislation.
A list of the new Acts, Regulations and Orders, relating to the work of the Department, is given
in Table 5, page 32.
SECTION C.—SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES
Sanitary Inspection.
The Borough is divided into four areas each of which is dealt with by a district public health
inspector. Inspsction of dwelling-houses is dealt with on page 18 and in Table 13, page 35.
Excluding rat and mouse infestations, 1,019 complaints were received and details of the 675
various nuisances detected and remedied are shown in Table 6, page 32.
Notices.—Intimation notices numbered 301, and 94 of these were followed by the service of a
statutory notice to secure abatement of nuisances. In addition, thirty-four notices were served
under Byelaws made under the Metropolis Management or Public Health Acts.
Legal Proceedings.
No legal proceedings under the provisions of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, were necessary.
Noise.
Thirty-six complaints of noise, involving twenty-eight alleged nuisances, were received. During the
year extensive engineering works and operations on demolition and building sites were being undertaken
in the Borough and most of the complaints were of noise coming from these, particularly late at night
and during weekends. Large-scale works of this kind inevitably give rise to some noise but in general
the building contractors and others involved were co-operative in their attempts to limit the amount
of noisy work at night and weekends and to reduce nuisance to a minimum. The remaining complaints
concerned a wide variety of supposed causes, including radio and speech amplifiers, loading and
handling of milk bottle crates, noise from factories and workshops, motor vehicles, steam trains, a
public house, an air compressor and an extractor fan. The complaints were not always justified but
where, upon investigation, nuisances were found to exist these were nearly all abated or reduced after
informal action by the public health inspectors or the streets nuisance inspector. In some cases the
Department was unable to take direct action and the facts giving rise to the complaints were referred
to other authorities possessing the necessary powers to deal with them.
Pigeons.
For the purpose of abating or mitigating nuisance, annoyance or damage caused by pigeons, Section
121 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, empowers the Council to arrange for the seizure or
destruction of these birds in excess of such numbers as the Council consider reasonable. Accordingly,
a pigeon catcher is authorised to operate under the direction of the Medical Officer of Health, at places
in the Borough where nuisance is being caused. During 1957 seventeen complaints of this type of
nuisance were investigated but it was only found necessary to refer two cases to the pigeon catcher.