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MISCELLANEOUS
Noise Nuisance
Four complaints of factory noise were received during the year. Three were remedied.
One was not confirmed.
Byelaws of Good Rule and Government give control of noisy animals. In 1960 a
new Act for the control of noise became law—this was " The Noise Abatement Act,
1960." The difficulty in the way of proving an offence under this Act is chiefly that no
standard is very clearly laid down as to how loud or how persistent a noise must be
to be dangerous to health.
Rodent Control
The following table gives details of work carried out in accordance with the policy
of the Council, as outlined in previous reports.
Total notifications of Rats and Mice Confirmed Non-Confirmed
184 180 4
Business and Industrial 31 premises treated
Domestic 153 „ „
Rats found and cleared in 116 „
Mice „ „ „ „ 64
Total number of visits in 1960—1,283
Sewers Ls7 Treatment
Total number of manholes baited 116
Number of poison takes 35
No takes 81
There was no improvement in the figures for rat infestation during 1959, and in
1960 a great increase in Departmental Officers' time was required to deal with this problem.
Visits paid increased from 889 in 1959 to 1,283 in 1960. In some instances, information
about infestation suspected was not reported to the Department until long after the first
observation, and as a result generations of breeding had increased the rat population,
making treatment a long and expensive task. Gross carelessness in the storage of foodstuffs
in factories and in homes, and the heedless disposal of waste food and waste food
containers is destroying the good results of the work of years.
Pet Animals Act, 1951
Six establishments were licensed during the year. The number of animals kept in
each case is small and conditions have remained satisfactory.
Administration of the Shops Acts
Routine visiting of shops in connection with the Shops Acts Regulations continued.
River Pollution
Inspection of the rivers and canal of Southall during the year did not give evidence
of any individual site of pollution in Southall on which action could be taken.
Gross pollution occurred in the River Brent in June as the result of a sewer fracture
in the next Borough of Ealing. Warning notices were prepared by the Borough Engineer
that the River was unfit and dangerous to bathers and posted at appropriate places.
These notices were left in position, and frequent sampling of river water carried out, until
the water could be reported as reasonably safe, which was necessarily some time after the
sewer had been repaired.
Middlesex County Council officers in 1959 carried out certain improvements to the
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