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(iii) Food Supply.
Slaughter houses -
Dairies 21
Food Premises 1,487
Bakehouses 86
Re Sampling 550
(iv) Infectious Disease.
Visits 692
(b) Notices. The number of notices served during the year totalled
5,074, of which 1,143 were statutory notices. The number of
notices complied with in the same period was 4,727.
Complaints made to the Department with regard to
sanitary circumstances, disrepair, infestations, obstructed
drains, etc., totalled 3,133.
(c) Rodent Control. The number of complaints received in respect
of rat and mice infestations totalled 329. This is a slight
increase over last year's figure, which might be thought to
indicate a worsening of such conditions in the Borough.
Fortunately this is not so, for there were fewer complaints of
rats, but more from occupiers of houses infested with mice.
No opportunity is lost to impress upon the public the
dangers to health likely to arise from the presence of mice, but
rarely is the department notified of mice infestations until the
infestation has reached such proportions as to cause both alarm
and inconvenience to the occupier of the premises.
The Council's systematic treatment of the sewers and
the prompt application of control methods to surface infestations
had reduced the rat population of the Borough to a very
low level. The objective of course, is complete extermination,
but such an objective does not appear possible under present
circumstances.
(d) Disinfection and Disinfestation. It was found necessary or
desirable to disinfect rooms and their contents at 340 premises.
In addition 440 library books were disinfected. The steam
disinfection of bedding was carried out on 170 days df the year.
The disinfestation of 164 premises was successfully
carried out by the use of D.D.T. insecticide either in the form
of spray or smoke supplemented by steam disinfection of the
bedding where necessary.
Comparisons with figures prior to the last war indicate
that verminous premises in the Borough are considerably less in
number.