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52
The number of applications for Certificates of Disrepair continues
to be small in relation to the number of controlled houses in the district
and most of the applications received are from the tenants of property
25 to 30 years old where active tenant associations are able to advise on
the preparation of Notices of defects. Very few applications are received
from the tenants of older property.
The defects most frequently listed concern external decorations,
fittings, pavements and fences. In many cases inadequate description of
defects by the tenant has resulted in difficulty in preparing subsequent
documents.
The operation of the Act has resulted in improved maintenance of
controlled houses but many tenants do not take advantage of the provisions
relating to the remedying of defects owing to the difficulty they
have in understanding the procedure to be followed.
SUPERVISION OF OTHER PREMISES
During the year visits were made to factories, hotels, clubs, schools,
and places of entertainment. Many of these visits were the result of requests
for advice in connection with specific problems, others were of a routine
nature and some followed the receipt of complaints. The general standard
of maintenance and hygiene found in all but a very few cases was good
and there is no doubt that standards tend to rise as improved materials
and labour saving devices become available.
Only by comparison with premises that have become outmoded and
approaching a stage when either demolition or modernising is essential
can the extent and effect of the changing standards be assessed. The
licensed premises of today is one example. The modern or reconditioned
House with its air-conditioned and temperature controlled cellar and well
appointed public rooms is far removed from the public house of the early
1900's with its poorly lit cellar and ornate and heavy furnishings. Similarly
with some of the schools, and for comparison here one might refer on the
one hand, to The Bridge or Vaughan Road Schools and on the other, to
any of recent construction. The former have served and are still serving
the district well, but with toilet accommodation (without hand washing
facilities), sited distant from the class rooms and in structures typical ot
the period during which they were built, they fall far short of the easily
cleansed, well lit and well appointed structures of today.
It is for the ever improving standards that all who work in the
public health field of prevention must strive. I think it was said at a recent
conference of Cleansing Superintendents that "If an ancient Briton were
reincarnated and returned to this country he would recognise the method
of refuse collection used in some places as the one operating when he was
previously on earth".