View report page

27
The total number of house drains inspected during the year, including those inspections which
may be described as routine and those made on complaint or after infectious disease, totalled 1,314,
and in 342 cases notices under the Public Health Act were served for either reconstruction or
repairs. In many of these the repairs were slight in nature and the owners were not required to
submit plans and applications. In addition to the above drainage work, 214 water closets were
provided under notice by the Sanitary Inspectors in order to supplement the accommodation
already existing.
DUST REMOVAL.
House refuse is collected not less than once a week in all districts in the Borough, but more
frequent collections are undertaken in certain streets. In 8 main streets where there is congestion
of traffic, there is a daily collection which is undertaken before 9 a.m., and in certain other streets
or blocks of flats the collection is also daily. In some cases there is a tri-weekly collection and in
others a bi-weekly collection. In a number of poorer streets in North Kensington, particularly
those where there are many houses let in lodgings, the collection is bi-weekly.
The refuse is either disposed of by incineration in the Council's destructor at Wood Lane or
removed by barge from the wharves in Kensal Road and Lots Road. Trade refuse is removed by
the Council on payment of a fee in accordance with the provisions of Section 33 of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891. Fish offal and other offensive trade products, which could be removed
on application as trade refuse, are for the most part removed and sold by the persons to whom this
class of refuse belongs.
During the past year, 526 removable ashbins of galvanised iron have been provided and 60
fixed ashpits of brick have been abolished under the powers conferred by Section 23 of the London
County Council (General Powers) Act, 1904, as a result of notices served by the Sanitary Inspectors.
REFUSE REMOVAL FROM MEWS.
The common dustbins installed by the Council in 1921, in 21 mewsways in North Kensington
at the expense of the owners, have continued to prove a satisfactory arrangement for storing
house refuse in these particular mews in which there is a number of dwellings, stables and
costermongers' stores.
The problem of securing hygienic conditions in mewsways has been tackled with considerable
success during the past three years as a result of close co-operation between the officers in the
Public Health Department and the Borough Engineer's Department.
The Borough Engineer has undertaken a more extensive surface sweeping of the mewsways
with the result that there is a general appearance of tidiness, and no complaints have arisen in
regard to decomposing trade and other refuse deposited on the mewsway surfaces.
Collections of house refuse are made at least twice weekly in all North Kensington mews.
PUBLIC CONVENIENCES.
The Council provide thirteen public lavatories containing water closets; three are for men only,
two for women, two for boys and two for girls, and in four accommodation is provided for both
sexes. Part of this accommodation is provided in Avondale Park and the Barlby Road Recreation
Ground. In addition, there are eleven urinals for men under the charge of the Council.
Free accommodation is provided in the men's and women's lavatories for those who are unable to
pay. At eleven railway stations in the Borough there are also conveniences for men and women,
and at 75 public houses there are urinals entered from the street and available to the public. The
public conveniences for men in the Borough have been regularly inspected throughout the year by
the male Sanitary Inspectors, and those for women in the railway stations and elsewhere have been
kept under observation by the Women Health Officers.
SMOKE ABATEMENT.
The Borough contains but few factories or other workplaces where there is a considerable fuel
consumption and thus the problem of smoke abatement is not a very large one. Nevertheless, in a
Borough which is essentially residential in character, it is very desirable that the nuisance from
smoke should be reduced to a minimum, and during the year the Council's Sanitary Inspectors
made 486 special observations with a view to ascertaining whether there were any breaches of the
smoke provisions of the Public Health Acts. The only nuisances discovered were in the northern
portion of the Borough, in which district it was necessary to serve three notices, which were
followed by abatement.
INCREASE OF RENT AND MORTGAGE INTEREST (RESTRICTIONS)
ACTS, 1920-23.
Applications made to the Council in 1927 for certificates under the Acts totalled 9, and
7 certificates were granted.
The comparative failure by tenants to attempt to make use of the provisions of the Acts is
probably due to the fact that most houses in a defective state of repair come under the notice of
the Sanitary Inspectors, who put the Public Health Acts into operation.