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17
4. Public Health Inspections.
The wide range of public health inspections is shown in Table 18
and routine visits to food premises and for food sampling were main
tained throughout the year.
The number of infectious disease enquiries was considerably reduced
because there was no widespread incidence of Sonne dysentery.
Table 19 shows that many improvements are effected by informal
action and without the need to resort to statutory procedures. Nearly
all formal notices served under the Public Health and Housing Acts
arose because of delay in carrying out works of repair.
The number of complaints (Table 20) increased by 78 on the figure
for the previous year. There were more complaints about housing
defects, rodent infestations and the nuisance from smoke or fumes;
the complaints about noise remained surprisingly small, and the
excessively cold winter in 1962-63 accounted for the comparatively
high number of complaints about water supplies being cut off when
service pipes were frozen.
Every effort is made to ensure that each complaint is investigated
within twenty-four hours of its receipt.
Legal proceedings were instituted by the Council to enforce property
repairs in the following cases :
(1) the owner of a dwelling house was fined £1 (with five guineas'
costs) for failing to comply with a statutory notice to provide
a larder, and a nuisance order was made in respect of other
defects in the house (with a further five guineas' costs);
(2) an owner was fined £3 (with five guineas' costs) for failing to
give information as to the ownership of premises to enable
statutory notices to be correctly addressed;
(3) a nuisance order was granted against the owner of a rented
house in respect of items of disrepair;
(4) an owner of a dwelling house was fined £1 (with two guineas'
costs) for failing to carry out drainage works within the time
specified on the statutory notice, and a nuisance order was
made (and three guineas' costs granted) in respect of other
matters of disrepair.
5. Disinfection and Disinfestation.
There has been no increase in the treatment of premises after case:
of infectious disease or of bed-bug infestation. The fumigation of
clothing before being sent abroad is carried out to assist members of