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bed-bugs are noticed leaving their resting places the disinfectors (who always
work in pairs and wear masks), now spray again and finish by spraying the
floors, walls and ceilings from below upwards. The room is then sealed up and
remains so until the next morning. The amount used has been varied during
the year, but on an average one gallon of a mixture has been used for every
700 cubic feet. Failures were recorded in 5 per cent. of all rooms treated.
(c) Hydrocyanic Acid.— In December, 1933, Mr. Couch, one of the Council's
Sanitary Inspectors, went to Manchester to study the methods of disinfestation
followed there and after consideration of his report the Council decided to adopt
the following scheme so far as the transfer of bug-infested tenants to the Council's
Estates was concerned, since experience had shown that some 40 per cent. of
all new tenants selected for transfer to the Council's houses were living in buginfested
premises. The details are as follows :—
(1) The homes of selected tenants are inspected by Mr. Couch who submits
one of the following reports to the Housing Department:—(1) Free from bugs;
(2) Bugs suspected or very slight infestation; (3) Bug infested.
(2) No further action is taken by this Department with regard to those in
the first category. Those in the second category are shown how thoroughly
to clean their furniture and kill bugs in the structure of the home. They are
subsequently re-inspected to see whether they are free from infestation or not:
if they are clean no further action is taken by this Department, if not, they are
dealt with as in the next class. With regard to the third category, however,
the Housing Department notifies the Health Department the date upon which
the tenants are being given a new house and arrangements are then made by
the Health Department with a contractor for the hire of a pantechnicon and
with another contractor for cyanide disinfestation. The cost of removal varies
with the number of families moved on a particular day but a uniform payment
of 10s. Od. is made by each tenant towards the cost of removal.
(3) The routine procedure then is as follows:— The furniture van and
disinfecting van arrive at the old house at 7.30 a.m.; all the bedding is taken
away by the disinfecting van and treated by steam. Everything else, except
food, which the people take themselves, is put into the pantechnicon. The
latter is then driven to the Borough Engineer's Yard at Eltham and parked
underneath a Dutch barn. The inside of the pantechnicon is then heated to a
temperature of between 65° F. and 90° F. by means of electric radiators and
the van is then charged with cyanide (Zyklon B). The concentration is between
one and two per cent. and the gas is allowed to remain in contact with the
furniture for 3½-4 hours. At the end of that time the van is opened and a certain
amount of the furniture is taken out, underneath the barn, and steps are taken