[Report 1950] / Medical Officer of Health, Aylesbury Borough.

  • Aylesbury (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1950
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1950] / Medical Officer of Health, Aylesbury Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    WATER SUPPLY. A piped water supply is laid on at every house in the Borough, the water being supplied by the Bucks Water Board. The bacteriological standard of the water remained satis- factory, as shown by the reports on the twelve samples of water submitted to the Pathology Laboratory, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, for examination. No complaints of excessive hardness were received during the year. PREVENTION OF DAMAGE BY PESTS ACT, 1949. This Act, which came into operation on April 1st last, replaced the Rats and Mice Destruction Act, 1919, which is repealed. The main changes are: — 1. The Borough Council is now the Statutory Authority for the purposes of the Act instead of acting under delegated powers from the County Council. 2. There is an obligation on occupiers of land to notify the Local Authority of the presence of rats or mice. 3. One half of the expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of the Act will be met by an Exchequer grant. The figures of work done under this heading as set out in the following table indicate that the incidence of rat and mouse infestation remains fairly static, and that the public are aware of the services offered and make good use of them. Co-operation with the business interests in the town remains good and sixteen agreements for a total sum of £156 10s. have been entered into. The actual cost of all other work done on business premises is recovered, while a free service is given to private dwellings. The service treatments of the sewers showed that the amount of rat infestation had not increased appreciably, but the Refuse Disposal and Sewage Works were heavily infested before treat- ment was carried out in the Autumn. The case reported as outstanding in the last report was successfully dealt with early in the year, and no re-infestation from this property has been reported.