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Sanitary Inspection of the Borough.— In addition to the work recorded in other paragraphs of
this Report the Sanitary Inspectors continued their general duties of investigating complaints, abating
nuisances and dealing with contraventions of the Public Health Act. Originally the sanitary inspector
was expected to exercise legal powers to improve environmental conditions. The legal powers and duties
remain but today these officers are increasingly regarded more as advisors than as policemen. To give
good advice and to try to see that it is followed requires more tact, tenacity and time than to demand that
the law be obeyed—and often produces more lasting results.
Not all complaints brought to the Health Department deal with matters on which the Department
is empowered to take action and in such cases complainants are advised, as far is is known, how and where
the matter may receive attention. Some particulars of the work done are shown below:—
Inspections following complaint 1,140
Number of premises at which nuisances, etc. were located 877
Number of premises where defects were remedied
(a) by owners or occupiers 861
(b) by Council in default 8
(c) public sewers repaired by Council 23
Informal notices issued 529
Written reminders issued 789
Statutory notices served 125
Total number of inspections and re-inspections 23,511
Inspections of piggeries 99
Inspections of stables 82
Inspections of urinals 61
Sinks provided or repaired 21
Roofs repaired 222
Gutters repaired or renewed 147
Brickwork, sills, etc., repaired or renewed 293
Premises provided with damp-proof courses 8
Sites covered with impervious material —
Yards and forecourts paved or drained 38
External painting 34
Rooms stripped, cleansed and redecorated 634
Floors, walls and ceilings repaired or renewed 744
Rooms in which ventilation provided or improved 10
Rooms in which lighting provided or improved
Windows repaired or renewed 329
Doors and other woodwork repaired or renewed 94
Staircases replaced or repaired 7
Lighting to staircase provided or improved 1
Handrails or balusters repaired or renewed 9
Grates provided or repaired 122
Wash coppers provided or repaired 7
Instances where ventilation under floor provided or improved 18
Larders provided or repaired 7
Domestic cleansing enforced 5
Improper keeping of animals abated 4
Offensive accumulations removed 27
Pigsties provided, repaired, cleansed, etc. 1
Other repairs carried out or nuisances abated 6
Visits re infectious diseases, etc. 722
Complaints continue to be received of nuisance caused by pigeons. Apart from those particularly
affected the public tends to be on the side of the pigeons, but the damage and nuisance caused by them is
considerable. Apart from the fouling of premises they love cement and mortar and thus open up brickwork
lor frost and rain to attack. The public should not encourage pigeons by making food available to them.
Throughout the Borough unfenced land, rear passages, roadside ditches and ponds are used as
dumps for garden refuse, rubble, tins, disused water tanks, broken furniture, defective household utensils,
worn motor tyres, etc., and these accumulations are most unsightly. They are seldom " prejudicial to
health or a nuisance" within the meaning of the Public Health Act. The Department does what it can to
deal with these eyesores but rarely can the offenders be traced.
The fouling of footpaths by dogs is much too prevalent. Training of dogs would do much to prevent
this and there is no excuse for permitting dogs on lead to foul footpaths. A local bye-law states " No
person being in charge of a dog in any street or public place, and having the dog on a lead, shall allow or
permit such dog to deposit its excrement upon the public footway," and for such offence there is a penalty
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