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I visited each property and nine occupiers reported (gratefully, let
it be said) that no further trouble had been experienced. One reported
renewed infestation, which occurred long enough after the
completion of our work for me to know that it was an entirely fresh
invasion. This occupier kept chickens, one of the greatest attractions
to marauding rats.
Failures are met of course. Few instances of infestation are
identical. If immediate re-infestation is found and continues, then
we have to look further for the source of the trouble. Recollection
of the report on sewer rat infestation in 1946 will show to what
severe degree some parts of our sewers are infested. Defective sewers
or defective drainage will give rise to an unlimited supply of rats, and
work may be costly and extensive before immunity is achieved.
The rat problem in Beckenham is controlled, it is suggested, by
the present organisation. Hundreds of infestations have been,
and are being, successfully eliminated. A sensible service is available
to the public, and it is hoped that the facts given in this report will
show that its cost is commensurate with the needs of the Borough.
I wish to express my thanks to the Medical Officer of Health for
his encouragement and support in these early days of my service
with the Beckenham Borough Council, to the Officers of the administrative
Departments, and particularly to my immediate colleagues,
who have given me the greatest co-operation in carrying out the
work of the Sanitary Inspector's Department.
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