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The fees received for this work during the year ended 31st March, 1937, amounted to
£118 13s. 0d.
In November a communication was considered from the Metropolitan Boroughs'
Standing Joint Committee asking for the Council's views on the need for legislation to
empower Borough Councils to provide temporary accommodation for persons removed from
their dwellings while the premises undergo disinfestation for vermin.
Such accommodation is provided under Statute in cases of infectious disease, but not at
present for vermin, and the Council were of opinion that legislation should be introduced for
the latter purpose also.
Eradication of Bed Bugs.
The following information is given in the form required by the Ministry of Health:-
1. The number of houses infested was 268, and the number of rooms
sprayed and fumigated was 223. No Council property was involved. In a
number of cases the contents only were disinfested.
2. The methods employed for disinfestation were: (a) spraying by Formalin;
(b) burning of Sulphur Candles.
3. In cases where tenants from slum clearance areas were rehoused in the
Council's flats, the beds, bedding, etc., were disinfested by steam at the Council's
Disinfecting Station, and a contractor was employed to disinfest the furniture by
Hydrogen Cyanide.
4. Disinfestation was carried out by the Local Authority except in circumstances
explained in (3) above. In cases where the London County Council
rehouse tenants living in verminous premises, the Borough Council undertake to
disinfest the bedding and rooms.
The powers of the Local Authority for dealing with infested houses are strengthened
by Section 123 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936.
Valuable information regarding the prevalence of bug infestation in the Borough has
been obtained in the course of a general survey that is being carried by the St. Pancras House
Improvement Society, Ltd. Mr. McKenny Hughes, who is a well known authority, has
undertaken to investigate the facts regarding infestation, and I have to thank him for
permission to quote the following preliminary conclusions.
Representative houses of different types and situated in various parts of the Borough
have been inspected. There are few streets containing working-class dwellings which can be
pronounced free from infestation, and in a considerable number of streets 100 per cent, of the
houses are infested.
The result of Mr. McKennv Hughes' inspection is to confirm the impression of the
ubiquity of the bug in working-class houses. It would be true to say that 50 per cent, of
the working-class houses in the Borough are infested. While a good deal can be done and is
done both by the tenants themselves and by the Public Health Department to mitigate this
evil, present methods cannot be considered to be sufficiently thorough. The subject is a
difficult one and it is hoped that experiments now being carried out will make possible the
introduction of more effective methods of disinfestation in the near future.