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97
Miscellaneous.
other cases on payment. The London County Council provide
a free accident service, and has now arranged with the London
Ambulance Service, the St. John Ambulance Association, and
the British Red Cross Society for the conveyance of parturient,
women to maternity hospitals at any hour of the day or night.
Removal and Collection of House Refuse.
The method of removal and collection of refuse in the
Borough is a combined system of mechanical and horse traction,
carried out by contract. The collecting wagons are hauled
from house to house by horses, and when full are drawn up
mechanically on to a motor carrier which takes the refuse to
the place of disposal. An empty wagon is left to replace the
full one.
The Contractor has the use of the Council's Destructor,
and about two-thirds of the refuse is dealt with at the Destructor,
where it is sorted and sifted. Part of the sifted
refuse is removed and part is burnt in the Destructor furnace.
The remaining third of the house refuse is taken down the
R. Thames by barge from two riverside wharves in the Borough,
and disposed of below Barking.
Thames Flooding.
At midday on Saturday, 7th January, I was informed by the
Health Visitor of the district that certain streets in the Fairfield
and Southfield wards of the Borough had been flooded in consequence
of the River Thames having overflowed its banks during
the early hours of that morning.
I immediately went round the district affected; with the
Health Visitor and the Engineer of the Disinfecting Station,
and visited a number of the houses which had been flooded. The
flooding was of a severe character and several feet of water had
inundated many of the ground floor rooms. The beds used by
many families were saturated and quite unusable, and I decided
to assist these families by loaning sets of bedding from one of
the Council's shelters. Sleeping accommodation was arranged
H