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van-load of material was collected for destruction. It is the
practice of the Public Health Department to collect and destroy
discarded possessions left behind by persons removing from clearance
areas to Council houses or flats.
It must not be thought from the figures given that Hackney has
an unusually large number of verminous houses. In fact, it is
probable that this Borough would compare favourably with most
London boroughs in this respect, and the large amount of work
carried out by the Public Health Department in connection with the
extermination of bugs arises from the fact that it is now generally
known to owners and occupiers that the Department is able and
willing to assist in this matter, and the presence of bugs is no longer
regarded as an evil to be accepted as inevitable in certain types of
property; in most cases where requests for fumigation are received
the infestation is found to be of a very mild type. In order to
secure the co-operation of the public a leaflet is issued describing
the facilities offered by the Public Health Department and a film
800 feet in length has been made by the Department depicting slum
clearance operations and the methods of vermin disinfestation, and
this film is used at lectures.
(3) The methods employed for ensuring that the belongings of
tenants are free from vermin bejore removal to Council houses.
The contents of the homes of all persons removing from
clearance areas, and where necessary from other houses, to the
Council's dwellings are treated with hydrogen cyanide (Zyklon B)
in the brick-built fumigation chambers erected at the Disinfecting
Station in 1934 and 1935. The internal measurements of the large
chamber are 26 feet long, 14 feet 3 inches high and 10 feet wide,
and it is therefore large enough to accommodate any type of furniture
van. Gas is introduced into the chamber without danger to the
operators, who need not wear protective gas masks. Three vanloads,
comprising the possessions of three to nine families, can be
treated in the chamber daily, and the process necessitates a delay
in the delivery of tenants' belongings of only three hours. The
small chamber, erected in 1935, the dimensions of which are 6 feet
8 inches long, 6 feet 4 inches high and 6 feet 10 inches wide, is
used for dealing with small quantities of furniture, etc., and in
particular for disinfesting bedsteads, which cannot be treated satisfactorily
by other methods.
The success which has followed the use of these two chambers
has led the Council to have yet a further chamber built. This new
chamber is very similar in construction and design to the large one
already described, but its efficiency has been considerably increased