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100
I he disinfection of second-hand clothing, prior to export to South Africa
and the supervision of the packing of the goods was carried out as in previous
years. The number of such articles dealt with this year reached 34,473.
The total number of articles disinfected for all Durnoses was 62.540.
Bug
Eradication.
The building of the special chamber at 42, Narrow Street, for the use of
hydrogen cyanide gas was completed during the year and came into operation
on the 23rd October, 1936. Thfe furniture and effects of 90 families were
treated there before being re-housed. In addition, 28 families were similarly
treated by fumigation contractors before the chamber was ready for use.
The construction of the chamber entailed much work of a detailed and
experimental nature and was carried oat by the Building Works Department,
and tribute must be paid to the Borough Engineer and Surveyor and his
staff who, by their keenness and co-operation did much to ensure its success.
Briefly the scheme operates as follows:—
The Housing Manager notifies this Department that certain families are
to be rehoused in flats allotted to them and that he has made arrangements for
their removal with the Council's furniture removal contractor. They are then
visited a few days previously by the Sanitary Inspector, who explains the
scheme and what is required of them to secure its successful operation.
The furniture vans are loaded (usually 3 families to a van) under supervision
and driven to the chamber where each van is under gas for 3 hours, and
after the van has been freed of gas, driven off to the new home.
Bedding is dealt with separately through the steam disinfector.
In addition to families that are rehoused from Slum Clearance Areas, all
persons transferred in Council flats are now treated similarly.
Two Disinfectors and one Relief Disinfector were appointed from the
existing staff and transferred to operate the scheme under the supervision of
the Specialist Sanitary Inspector in charge of Disinfestation.
It is pleasing to be able to report how willing the public are to assist the
Health Department in its efforts to eradicate vermin, and up to date there
have been no failures or re-infestations.
The initiation of this scheme has aroused considerable interest in Public
Health circles and Health Officials from places as far as Bombay, Irak, and
Port Sudan, have visited the chamber.
(1) The number of :—
(a) Council houses—
(i) found to be infested, 783 ;
(ii) disinfested, 783.
(ib) Other houses—
(i) found to be infested, 417.
(ii) disinfested, 414.
(2) The methods employed for freeing infested houses from bed bugs—
(a) Stripping of woodwork, where necessary, and application of
blow lamp to same, and fumigation with sulphur dioxide.
(b) Spraying with insecticides.
(3) The methods employed for ensuring that the belongings of tenants
are free from vermin before removal to Council houses :—•
All furniture and effects fumigated with H.C.N. Bedding dealt
with separately by steam disinfection.
(4) Whether the work of disinfestation is carried out by the local authority
or by a contractor : Local authority.