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105
SCABIES AND VERMINOUS CONDITIONS.
Among the most striking changes which have been seen during
the past 30 years have been the decrease in the verminous condition
of dwellings and the great increase in the cleanliness of school
children and the diminishing incidence of scabies.
Theoretically it was always possible to clear houses of bugs
and for that reason evidence as to verminous condition was not
admitted at clearance enquiries as being an argument for demolition,
but in actual fact it was not possible to do so in slum areas owing
to the condition of the premises, although every effort was made
by the Council to reduce, or at least limit, the extent of infestation
of houses in these areas.
So far as the decrease in the verminous conditions of dwellings
is concerned, comparative figures for the years 1920 and 1950
suggest that the reverse is the case, for in the former year 577
rooms were cleansed, whereas the number in the latter year was
984; but the explanation for this apparently contradictory statement
is that in 1920 the rooms found to be verminous were excessively
so and usually the cleansing was the result of action taken
by the sanitary inspector. By 1950, however, as a result of health
education, tenants were making application to the Public Health
Department for the treatment of their rooms immediately vermin
was suspected and in these days it is rarely, if ever, that rooms are
found in so verminous a state as were those in 1920, the few exceptions
being where aged and infirm people are living alone and
unable to devote proper care either to themselves or to their
accommodation.
The extensive programme of slum clearance undertaken by
the Council brought with it the problem of preventing the infestation
of new premises to which inhabitants of the areas were transferred,
and in 1934 the Council erected a cyanide chamber and
arrangements were made for the furniture and effects of all families
to be rehoused by the Borough Council to be treated in it, after
which they were delivered direct to the new dwellings, thus eliminating
the possibility of vermin being introduced into the new
homes.
This arrangement proved so successful that when in 1938
the whole of the 1,390 dwellings in the possession of the Council
were inspected, bug infestation of varying degrees was found in
only eleven of these dwellings, in nine of which the families had
been rehoused at a time before 1934 when there was no routine
disinfestation of the furniture of families removing to Council
dwellings. It is possible that in the two instances where infestation
had occurred after cyanide treatment the vermin had been