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of the sum. If it thinks fit, it may in any case pay the whole or any further
part of the remainder. According to Section 13, in the case of privately
owned houses, the exchequer contribution will be four-sevenths of the
contribution made by the local authority. The effect of the various payments
is that the owner or occupier of a house will pay three-tenths,
the local authority three-tenths and the Central Government the remaining
four-tenths. In any case, where a local authority pays more than fourtenths
of the cost borne by a private owner or occupier, the Government
contribution will not be proportionately larger. Section 14 says that the
work must include only what is reasonably necessary to avoid contravention
of a smoke control area order and any expense beyond this must
be left out of account.
Clean Air Act, 1956. Section 10. Another aspect of the campaign
for clean air arises in industrial undertakings. Under Section 10
of the Act, the local authority are to be satisfied that the height of a chimney
is such that the products of combustion will be adequately dispersed
and will not give rise to a nuisance. Even when smokeless fuels are used
their products of combustion which will include sulphur fumes, must be
emitted at a sufficient height.
Hazards of Radiation
Local authorities have not been made responsible for any measures
to protect the public against radiation risks. Nevertheless, they cannot
help the public looking to them when for any reason they are particularly
anxious. Following the Windscale accident, it is probable that many
mothers approached their authorities as did some in this district, to be
reassured about the safety of the milk they were giving their children.
Any authority must be anxious if a container of isotopes falls off a vehicle
which is passing through their district.
The following is a copy of a report submitted to a meeting of the
Public Health Committee, which is a summary of the position in regard
to radiation hazards:
1. The sources of radiation to which we are exposed are outer
space, the earth we live on, the food, water and air we take in,
radio-active elements in our bodies, and man-made additions. These
last include:
1. Fall-out from detonated bombs. This has added less than one
per cent to the inescapable dose.
2. The earliest man-made sources were the machines for the
production of X-rays.
3. They were closely followed by the extraction of naturally
active nuclides, radium and thorium from uranium ores (they
provide mainly gamma rays).
4. With the construction of reactors came not only isotopes (over
1,000 of them) but also organic compounds "tagged" with
radio-active elements.