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Environmental Health
87
New Furnaces
Section 3 (3) of the Clean Air Act, 1956, requires notification to the Local Authority of the intention
to install any new industrial furnace or any domestic furnace with a capacity of 55,000 or more BTU/hr.
Notifications of 71 installations were received; 30 were gas fired, 34 fired by light oil (which has a
sulphur content less than that of solid fuel); five by heavy oil (which has a sulphur content higher than
that of solid fuel); one by coal and one related to an incinerator. After discussion, the incinerator and
two of the light oil installations were not proceeded with.
Dark Smoke (Permitted Periods) Regulations, 1958
These Regulations lay down the maximum length of time that dark and black smoke may be
emitted in any given period of time. There were 83 observations made, and no contraventions of the
Act were noted.
Height of Chimneys
Section 10 of the Clean Air Act, 1956, requires that plans of new industrial buildings deposited for
approval under Building Regulations be rejected if the height of any chimney shown on the plan is
insufficient to prevent smoke, grit, dust or gases from being prejudicial to health or a nuisance.
Forty-two plans submitted for approval were passed to the department for a decision on this
particular point. In 31 cases the plans were submitted with chimney heights which had already been
agreed with the architects or heating engineers concerned, or were acceptable, but in the other 11 cases
it was necessary to ask for a higher chimney than originally shown.
Industrial Bonfires
Section 47 of the Middlesex County Council Act, 1961, prohibits dark smoke from industrial
bonfires. No contraventions were observed during the year. A prototype incinerator for burning car
bodies, which was under construction in a car breaker's yard, did not prove entirely satisfactory.

Milk Production
At the beginning of the year there were 19 dairy farms in the Borough, two of which discontinued
during the year.
The hygiene of milk production is the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food, but sampling of milk for the determination of composition and purity is a duty of the department.
There were 188 samples examined for Brucella and 12 were found to be positive. The initial test is the