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16
SANITARY INSPECTION OF THE AREA.
Inspections on Complaint.
The number of complaints received at the office and recorded
in the register of complaints was 490, as compared with 474 in the
previous year and 477 for the year 1935.
The total inspections made on complaint was 593, and the
number of defects or nuisances revealed was 383, which are
analysed in the following table. Preliminary notices were at
once served on the owners or occupiers of the premises
concerned.
It will be observed that the number of inspections is greatly
in excess of the number of defects found, and this fact indicated
that many visits were paid in which no action could be taken
under the Housing and Public Health Acts. Such complaints
were concerned usually with noise (i.e. vibrations from
machinery or irritating noises from animals) or some grievance,
due often to neighbourly differences.
One fact remained clear, that the Public Health Department,
quite apart from its normal functions, has come to be regarded
as the repository for all minor petitions of complaint not usually
dealt with in the Court of Summary jurisdiction.