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RODENT CONTROL
The Prevention of Damage by Pests Act, 1949, requires an occupier to notify the
local authority if his premises are infested by rats or mice, but it is the responsibility
of the occupier himself to take steps to destroy them. It is the Council's duty to see
that he does this. Nevertheless, best results are achieved where the local authority
undertakes disinfestation as a public health service. In Finchley, householders and
occupiers of business premises can have the assistance of trained staff, which ensures
that suitable material and reliable techniques are used, and that all the property involved
in any infestation is dealt with; a charge is made for this service.
Rats and mice are dependent upon man for their food and shelter and it is, to an
extent, because of man's carelessness that efforts at control seem only to contain the
rat population. The number of notifications and requests for assistance remains
fairly constant. In 5 cases smoke tests were applied to rat runs and as a result
defects in drains or sewers were revealed in each case. The necessary remedial works
were carried out.
So as to limit the number of rats in sewers, it is the practice to place poison baits
in them in May and October of each year, but owing to a shortage of labour it was
impossible to undertake the Spring treatment in 1963. In October bait was laid in
792 manholes and in none of them was it taken.
The Sewage Disposal Works and the site of the Refuse Destructor has always
presented a substantial risk of infestation, but routine precautions kept the rat population
at an extremely low level. As the use of the Works diminished, all unused drains
were taken up or sealed off; in the case of drains kept in use in which the flow of
water is intermittent or scanty, permanent baiting points were established at points of
access. In addition, care was taken to cover and consolidate sites which had been
used for the deposit of organic material from the sewage disposal plant.
A good measure of control is maintained by the use of warfarin which, in the
dosage normally used, presents no hazard to man or domestic animals. There has been
no occasion to use the more toxic poisons, which present a considerable risk to man.
Statistical table—see page 88.
NOISE
The Noise Abatement Act, 1960, made new provisions in respect of the control
of noise and vibration and enables a local authority to deal with it as a statutory
nuisance in accordance with the procedure in the Public Health Act, 1936. Provision
is also made which enables three or more persons aggrieved by a noise nuisance to
make a complaint to a Magistrate.
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