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The privately owned houses, found to be infested, are kept under observation for varying
periods and the occupiers advised by the Sanitary Inspectors as to the necessary action they
should take to deal with the infestation and to prevent re-infestation.
During the year a number of experiments have been carried out to find an apparatus
which would disinfest clothing satisfactorily with heavy naphtha. The Council provided £50
for the erection of the experimental apparatus and the experimental work was done under the
direction of Mr. McKenny Hughes of the Natural History Museum, Secretary of the Bug
Committee of the Medical Research Council and necessitated the installation of an electrical
heater in order to provide the necessary temperature. This occasioned a certain amount of
difficulty and had ultimately to be enlarged as the temperature required could not be reached
with the original installation.
Arrangements were made whereby at a certain period during the disinfestation re-inforcement
could be made through specially made holes at the back of the apparatus.
The disinfestation of furniture is still carried out by cyanide in the grounds of Dockwell
Hospital, where everything of this kind is now centred. The families are accommodated at
Dockwell while their houses are being disinfested.
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