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Shops.
There are 318 shops, including a number of
family businesses in which no assistants are employed.
The whole of the Shops Act 1950 is administered by
the Council and includes such matters as closing hours,
the early closing day, Sunday trading, the employment
of young persons, and the comfort and welfare of
shop assistants.
Two hundred and fifty visits were made to
shops in connection with these various matters.
Some minor infringements were found and remedied, and
it was not necessary to take any legal proceedings
under the Act.
HEATING APPLIANCES AND FIREGUARDS.
By the Heating Appliances (Fireguards)
Act 1952, gas and electric fires and oil heaters which
are offered for sale for use in residential premises,
must be fitted with guards to prevent risk of injury
by burns. Standards for such guards are laid down
in regulations made under the Act.
Visits were made to shops selling heating
appliances, and no contraventions of the Act were
revealed.
The Department co-operated with the Home
Safety Committee of the Council of Social Service at
the end of the year in a campaign to publicise the
dangers of inadequately guarded fires.
RODENT CONTROL.
Complaints of rats during the year numbered
184. Of the 6l8 premises examined either in connection
with these complaints or during inspection of
the District for unreported or unsuspected infestations
212 were found to be infested to some degree. All
these infestations were dealt with, so far as private
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