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51
In Circular 1728 the Ministry of Health ask that particulars of the action
taken for the eradication of bed-bugs should be given under the five headings set
out below:—
1. The number of (a) Council houses; (b) Other houses; (i) Found to be infested;
(ii) Disinfested. Visits are paid to the Council's houses (a) when a tenant gives
notice that he intends to vacate the premises and before he does so; (6) when a
tenant asks for a transfer to another Council house; and (c) at the request of the
Estate Office, when the presence of bed-bugs is suspected. The number of such
visits made during the year was 514. The number of Council Houses found to be
infested during the year was 79, and all of these were successfully disinfested ; in
all instances, except six, after one fumigation.
The distribution of infested houses is interesting, as most of the infestation
which exists in the Council's houses is in houses which were occupied prior to the
institution in 1934 of the disinfestation scheme. On the Page Estate of 2,306
houses, bug infestation was found in 61 cases. On the Middle Park Estate of 1,962
houses, 14 cases were found; ten of these and all of those on the Page Estate were
in houses which were built prior to 1934. Two cases of infestation were found in
the North Woolwich houses built about 1902 and two in houses which came into
the possession of the Council through default in payment of sums due under
mortgages. No infestation has yet been found in the Timbercroft Lane Estate of
54 houses.
Houses other than those in Council ownership are found to be infested on
house-to-house inspection, on inspection following investigation of a complaint,
or on enquiry into the occurrence of infectious disease, and occasionally an occupier
asks for help in eradicating the bed-bug. The number of such houses found to be
infested during the year was 494. The scheme of co-operation described in my
Annual Report for 1932, between the Council and the Landlord, was put into
operation in 159 instances, while a further 103 houses in clearance areas were dealt
with prior to demolition. One further house is known to have been disinfested by
the occupier after advice from the department.
2. The methods employed for freeing infested houses from bed-bugs and the name
of the fumigant and/or insecticide used. Different methods were used by the
Department during the year, in different circumstances.
(а) Sulphur dioxide, plus cleansing, as described in my Annual Reports for
1932 and 1933, was used in 84 houses, all of which, with the exception of 9, were
in private ownership. In 78 instances this method of treatment was successful
in one application.
(b) Cyanide (Zyklon B) was used for the disinfestation of 18 occupied houses
in 9 blocks. In such cases the occupiers of infested dwellings are accommodated
for two nights in a block of empty houses on the Council's estate, reserved for this
purpose. The occupiers of the non-infested houses in the blocks were offered
accommodation for one night, but allowed to return to their own dwellings the
same evening if they so desired, as soon as the premises had been certified as safe.