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smoke control area recently declared by the Woolwich Borough
Council. The Health Committee nave been much exercised
in the course of their deliberations by the iack of assurance
that adequate supplies of smokeless fuels other than
coke will be available and have not been too happy that, in
the main, authorities will have to rely on coke as the main
source of smokeless fuel for some years to come. At the
time of writing, arrangements are being made for the detailed
survey of the area, the Minister of Housing and Local
Government having given provisional clearance of the
Council's proposals for their No. 1 Smoke Control Area.
Arrangements are, accordingly, being made lor the maximum
amount of publicity to be held in the area concerned, so that
no resident affected by this order, which will come into
operation in the Autumn of 1960, will be without all the
information which he may require. Publicity measures wiil
include public meetings, exhibitions and the distribution of
explanatory leaflets.
In 1956, the South East London Mass Radiography
Service issued a report on the operation of the service in a
report entitled "No Time for Complacency" and, althought no
hard and fast conclusions could be drawn from this in regard
to the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis in this area, it was
evident that a sufficient reservoir of infection was present to
raise the question of the advisability of carrying out a concentrated
mass radiography survey. The Councils of Bexley,
Erith and Crayford have now appointed a joint committee
to carry out such a survey in the Spring of 1960 and a great
deal of preparatory work will be necessary in the Autumn
of 1959. A house to house visitation will need to be made
which, in the case of Bexley alone, may mean as many as
28,000 visits with proportionate numbers for the remaining
two areas. Tuberculosis is a waning disease and it is hoped
that this concentrated attack will contribute towards its final
eradication.
The work of the Bexley, Erith and Crayford Home
Safety Committee continued during the year with steady
propaganda in the interests of the reduction of accidents in
the home. It is hoped that this work may be greatly increased
in the future, although this would entail a larger
expenditure than has been possible in the past. Both the
Local Authority and the Local Health Authority have the
power to make grants for this purpose. The Fabrics (Misdescription)
Regulations of 1959 are to be welcomed in this
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