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92
VERMIN STATION
To the Council of the 24th February the Engineer submitted plans for the
completion of the station at a cost of £2,000, when it was resolved that
application be made to the Ministry of Health for sanction to a loan of £2,000
for this extension to the public baths, and as the matter was urgent, the
Council instructed the Engineer to proceed at once with the completion of the
station; this action followed a communication of the Board of Education
dated 8th January.
On the 28th August, Dr. F. Higgs, on behalf of the Ministry of Health,
interviewed myself and the Clerk, and was shown as much of the station as
had been erected. On the 12th October the Council was informed that the
Ministry of Health were only prepared to sanction the loan on condition that
the proposed building was entirely separated from the building of the
disinfector, that it had a separate entrance from the public street, and such
arrangements made as will ensure that persons attending to be cleansed do not
enter, and are unable to leave, by way of the yard where infected articles are
transferred from a vehicle to the disinfector building. On this letter I reported
to the Public Health Committee that the conditions laid down appeared
incomprehensible in view of the fact that the plans and site of the buildings as
now partly erected were accepted by the Local Government Board as far back
as 1914 and that the attitude of the Ministry involved still further delay .in
obtaining this urgent need for the benefit of the scholars of Edmonton.
However, the Council felt they had no other course to pursue but to remove
this objection by ordering the removal of the disinfector back to its original
position at Claverings Farm at an estimated cost of £125.
In October, on giving sanction to the loan of £2,000, the Ministry of
Health required an undertaking from the Council that (subsequent to the
opening of the cleansing station) no disinfection shall be carried out in the
vicinity.
In December, the Works Committee were informed that the cost of
removing the disinfecting apparatus back to Claverings Farm had been
tendered for at £137, excluding the cost of cartage and of cutting away and
making good; it was therefore recommended to have this done by direct
labour.
So the Cleansing Station still remains unfinished, notwithstanding repeated
requests from the School Medical Officer and the Education Committee. It is
quite time that it was completed and in proper use.