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94
There were 161 inspections made in respect of rat infested
premises and a large amount of the drainage reconstruction
resulted.
It is a practice of the Engineer and Surveyor to provide poison
baits in the manholes of the Council's sewers and upon land within
his jurisdiction.
Posters are exhibited in various parts of the town, drawing
attention to the purposes of the Rats and Mice (Destruction) Act
and advising affected householders what steps to take.
52. MOSQUITOES.
The prevalence of mosquitoes in the area is still at certain
periods of the year particularly evident, although of course not
nearly so much as it must have been when the marshes were not
drained so well as they are to-day.
It is a wise old saying that "the marsh bailiff (i.e., ague) died
in a ditch." It is to proper drainage that we must look for this
suppression of the mosquito pest, and from this standpoint we could
wish that the Essex Sewers Commissioners had much more money
available and more power in order to bring about a happier state of
affairs than exists on the marshes of Barking.
The Natural History Society have taken up this matter and
indeed have spent field days studying mosquito life in Barking.
The industrial development of the riverside lands in Barking
will do much to do away with the mosquito problem, but we find
that many people who complain of mosquitoes have really themselves
to blame—as is so often the case—and that if they were themselves
to see that there were no pools of stagnant water in the precinctof
their own houses they would not be so troubled with mosquitoesas
they are to-day.
It is not likely that the mosquitoes which actually breed between
the Thames and Ripple Road affect any other than the houses in
the immediate vicinity of their breeding places.