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Railway locomotives are responsible for more than l/7 of all the smoke discharged
to the atmosphere. Most of this smoke is produced by shunting engines and stationary
locomotives. The only complete answer to this problem is the replacement of coal-fired
locomotives by electric, diesel or other smokeless methods of traction. It is understood
that schemes are in hand to electrify a number of lines in the near future and that other
means of obviating smoke from railways are being considered.
It was hoped that it might have been possible to recommend to the Council, a
"smokeless zone" area, but owing to the conditions prevailing in the Borough, and the
cost of such a project, it was not practicable. The scope of smokeless zones is
limited if complete smokelessness is not practicable and in an area such as West Ham,
which includes industry as well as dwelling houses, this is not possible except at
prohibitive cost.
It is unfortunate that most of the smoke producing appliances in West Ham, namely,
domestic firegrates, industrial plants and railway equipment are of out-of-date design and
therefore ill-adapted to prevent the production of smoke. Nevertheless, the Sanitary
Inspectors have, during the year, done their utmost to prevent the issue of smoke to the
atmosphere, particularly from industrial and railway sources.
During the year, 174 smoke observations of factory chimneys were carried out and
a further 117 visits were made to factories to give advice, etc. on existing plant. In a
number of instances, occupiers were persuaded to use smokeless fuel instead of smoke
producing bituminous coal and numerous mechanical improvements suggested by the Inspectors
were put into operation. It was gratifying to note that factory owners displayed great
interest in the various means of obviating smoke and expressed their desire to co-operate
with the Department to eliminate smoke as far as possible.
RODENT CONTROL, DISINFESTATION AND DISINFECTION SECTION.
The trend of work, although showing an apparent increase, is in fact steadily
declining; the apparent increase is due to the fact that in previous years the investigational
visits were omitted entirely, but have now been included.
The number of complaints in dwelling houses would have been smaller but for the
complaint "en block" from Blggerstaff Road in April, when it was alleged that all the 36
houses were (a) overrun with rats and mice, and (b) bug ridden. On investigation, it was
found that one house had evidence of the occasional rat in the garden and six had slight
mouse infestation, while only five had any infestation by bed-bugs.
The largest single infestation by rats occurred in a group of business premises in
Barking Road, where no fewer than 79 carcases were picked up as a result of the poisoning
operation; and five nests of young were destroyed whilst investigations were proceeding to
trace the source of infestation, which was quickly located as being defects in the drainage
system.
At Fyfield Open Air School, where a large scale operation was undertaken in 1953, it
is gratifying to report that a very few rats attempted to find shelter in the late Autumn,
but were quickly detected and destroyed.
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