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The pig bins remain, so often an eyesore and an offence, an encouragement
to rats and to flies, but at last the street shelters, with their nuisances,
have gone. It can only be hoped that things will so improve
that the country will not need to require the collection in this way of
a supplementary pig ration.
Street Cleansing.
It had not been possible by the end of the year to move any nearer
towards restoring the pre-war practice of street cleansing. In some
localities especially, greater attention to cleansing of the streets would
be an encouragement to the occupants of the houses fronting to make
their own contributions to arrest the lowering of the general standard of
the locality. Ill-swept streets are no encouragement to those who,
perhaps, need stimulating to keep the fronts of their houses, their gardens
and their fences in good condition.
Secondary access roads are a frequent source of complaint. They
only too readily become dumping grounds for the locality, their drains are
readily blocked, while those not surfaced become unfit in wet weather
for use by pedestrians. Where these passages are the only means of
access for the occupants of flats over the adjacent shops, very real inconvenience
is suffered. Again, so often these passages cannot be held
to be public health nuisances. So frequently they are potential nuisances,
while in any event their state must frequently result in a very
real inconvenience to many. Even in those cases where action can be
taken under the provisions of the Public Health Acts, the machinery
is so very cumbersome that the cost of postage alone for the communications
sent to those who might have to contribute to the cost of whatever
is required may be greater than the cost of the work or of the article.
On the other hand, such unsatisfactory states should not be permitted to
remain, again tending to lower the tone of a locality, quite apart from
the real inconvenience to a number. The only satisfactory solution
would seem to be the taking over of such passages or secondary access
roads by the Council so that they would then be maintained in a satisfactory
state.
MORTUARY.
During 1946, 295 bodies were received, post mortems were carried out
on 210, and 62 inquests held. 85 bodies were admitted for storage. 27
bodies were sent into the mortuary from the Borough of Wembley, a
post mortem examination being carried out, and an inquest held on
each.