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I. SANITATION.

GENERAL.

The annual reports of medical officers of health and sanitary inspectors, which we have carefully scrutinised as they reached us, continue to show progress in sanitation. In some areas, however, the local authorities would be more willing to proceed with improvements if the financial burdens involved were not so heavy. We have borne this in mind throughout the year, but frequently we have been obliged to press local authorities to deal with matters of public health which the annual reports showed to be urgently in need of improvement.

Various schemes of water supply and drainage have been initiated during the year, with the help of grants from the Unemployment Grants Committee. We hope that the operations of the Unemployment Grants Committee, together with some reduction in the costs of works of this kind, will induce local authorities to proceed with any sanitary improvements that are required in their areas.

We have received during the year many complaints regarding nuisances and insanitary conditions, and where these proved to be well-founded we took steps to secure improvement. The defective condition of many old houses in some areas has also engaged our attention. With a shortage of houses all over the country it is difficult for local authorities to insist on the closure or demolition of insanitary houses, though in normal times this was the usual procedure. We endeavoured, where the defective houses were capable of repair, to induce local authorities to secure improvement, and in dealing with some houses which were retained in use only because of the need for accommodation, we suggested that as much improvement should be made as was possible, in order to make the houses habitable, until they could be closed or demolished. In many instances, of course, defective houses are being dealt with under slum clearance schemes.

WATER SUPPLY.

It is creditable to the foresight of local authorities in the cities and large towns of Scotland that few of the great industrial centres, in spite of the increase in their population, have difficulty in providing their inhabitants with a plentiful supply of water. In some rural areas and villages, particularly in the Highlands, there is considerable difficulty in supplying a sufficient amount of water at convenient places. In the Highlands, owing to the smallness of the assessable rental of townships, it is almost impossible to initiate gravitation schemes, and the usual method of securing improvement in these areas is by the protection of wells and the provision of tanks. We dealt with various complaints of insufficient water supply during the year.

B

LOANS FOR WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE PURPOSES.

We recommended the Public Works Loan Board to grant three loans to local authorities amounting to £12,451, 19s. 3d. for water supply purposes, and two loans amounting to £12,020 for the execution of drainage works.

The rate of interest for loans from the Public Works Loan Board for public health purposes was reduced from 5 per cent. to 43 per cent. on 1st May, 1923.

ASSESSMENTS.

We approved rates in excess of the statutory limit of 3s. per £ in 57 special water supply and drainage districts. The rates varied from 3s. 1d. to 9s. 4d. per £, the majority being, however, under 5s. per £. In 87 special lighting aud scavenging districts we approved rates varying from 94d. to 2s. 4d. per £.

The number of applications and the rates levied showed a continued decrease as compared with the last few years. As a rule the cost of upkeep and wages was lower, and the reduction in the rates would have been more marked but for the necessity of carrying out renewals and repairs that had been postponed some time ago on account of high prices.

SANITARY OFFICERS' GRANT.

We have continued to receive a considerable number of proposed alterations in the salaries of medical officers of health and sanitary inspectors. The slowing-down of the fall and the subsequent slight rise in the cost of living have been reflected in the applications made to us for approval of salaries for the purposes of the sanitary officers' grant. We sanctioned all reductions and some increases proposed by local authorities, but we did not see our way to allow the full amount of some of the increases granted by local authorities to rank against the sanitary officers' grant.

Under the Expiring Laws Continuance Act, 1923, the sanitary officers' grant remains stereotyped until the 31st December, 1924, at the amounts paid for the year 1913-14.

HOUSING OF SEASONAL WORKERS.

We have caused inspection to be made of the accommodation for seasonal workers in all the districts in which byelaws under Section 45 of the Housing and Town Planning (Scotland) Act, 1919, are in operation. It is gratifying to be able to record still further improvement in the standard of accommodation provided for these workers. As a rule, farmers and employers of the workers, on irregularities being brought to their notice by the local authorities, have carried out improvements that were necessary to comply with the byelaws. Occasionally, however, the local authorities have had to resort to legal proceedings.

During the year we confirmed byelaws submitted by the local authorities of seven districts and one burgh.

OFFENSIVE TRADES.

We confirmed byelaws made by Dundee Burgh Local Authority under Section 32 (3) of the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, for regulating the businesses of gut or tripe cleaner, tanner, tallow-melter, and skinner or hide factor within the burgh.

SMOKE ABATEMENT (SCOTLAND) BILL.

The Smoke Abatement (Scotland) Bill was introduced into the House of Lords on 1st August and read a first time.

The Bill, which was a moderate advance on the existing law, was discussed by the Incorporated Sanitary Association of Scotland at their Annual Congress in September, when objection was takento it on the ground that it was not drastic enough to meet the circumstances. On the other hand, representations were made to us by associations of the various industries of Scotland that the Bill, if passed in its existing form, would injure trade.

On 20th November we received a deputation from the steel and iron masters in Coatbridge and Airdrie, along with representatives of the local authorities of these burghs and of the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire. On the 27th December we met a further deputation consisting of representatives of colliery owners, steel and iron masters and other industries, along with representatives from the Chambers of Commerce for Edinburgh and Glasgow. We are at present considering the various criticisms of the Bill which have been submitted to us.

ALKALI, ETC. WORKS REGULATION ACT, 1906.

The number of works registered under the Act for the past year was 160, a decrease of five as compared with the preceding year. The number of processes under inspection was 303. 2 bicy

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Mr. J. W. Young, our Chief Inspector of Alkali, etc. Works, has made 521 visits and 348 chemical tests during the year. He reports that increase of production and improvement of trade have been slow and that several works are still wholly idle.

Complaints from the public of annoyance by chemical fumes have been duly investigated and efforts made to remove any just cause.

No legal proceedings were taken under the above Act against any registered work during the year.

The annual report of the Chief Inspector on Alkali, etc. Works in Scotland for 1923 will be published later in one volume with the Report of the Chief Inspector for England and Wales.

RIVERS POLLUTION PREVENTION.

During the year we received several complaints in regard to the pollution of rivers.

The whole subject of the pollution of rivers in Scotland has been engaging our attention. Many of the returns (as to all sources of pollution of streams) which we called for in our circular letter of 28th August, 1922, have now been received.

Towards the end of the year one of our inspectors made an in

spection of the entire course of a river in the East of Scotland, and his report is being considered at present.

In view of representations which we received we communicated with the Local Authority of the Burgh of Langholm, who decided to undertake sewage purification works in order to supplement the scheme of drainage for the burgh.

Deposit of Clyde Dredgings.

At the request of the Board of Trade, we consented to the appointment of our Chief Engineer as an assessor at an enquiry held by that Department in Glasgow in connection with an application by the Clyde Navigation Trust for permission to deposit material dredged from the River Clyde on an area near Roseneath Patch in the Firth of Clyde. One of our inspectors is assisting also in the inspection of the foreshores surrounding Roseneath Patch prior to the deposit of any material, with the view to a further inspection being made if necessary at a later date to ascertain whether any pollution of the foreshores has been caused by depositing the dredgings at that point.

Outfall Sewer.

The Board of Trade intimated to us that a creamery company in the south of Scotland had failed to comply with certain conditions on which that Board had granted permission to lay an outfall sewer on the foreshore in the tidal estuary of a river. These conditions included the following:-(1) that the discharge through the sewer was to take place on the ebb-tide only; and (2) that no whey was to be discharged through the pipe. We arranged with the Fishery Board for Scotland to have the matter enquired into by one of our engineering inspectors in conjunction with the Inspector of Salmon Fisheries for Scotland. Their joint report showed that the first of these conditions was not being complied with, and it contained recommendations designed to secure compliance and to improve the effluent. The report was transmitted to the Board of Trade.

PUBLIC CLEANSING.

During the year our Inspector of Public Cleansing made 100 inspections of the public cleansing services in 64 burghs and districts. He was also consulted by many local authorities about proposals for the development or extension of these services, and about difficulties which they had experienced in the operations of their public cleansing departments. He reports that the whole problem of refuse disposal continues to be closely considered by local authorities and their officials in the light of altered conditions and of the experimental work of recent years. The important question of the collection of refuse and of its storage prior to collection requires special attention. Experience in the collection of refuse has shown. that where the travelling distance to the place of deposit of the refuse is more than 13 miles mechanical traction is in general more economical than horse transport. For a distance between 1 mile and 11⁄2 miles opinion is divided on the question, but for a less distance than 1 mile horse transport is usually favoured. There are now many

different types of vehicles in use for this class of work, and it is understood that experiments are being made on the possibilities of self-propelled vehicles for short distance work. On storage prior to collection our Inspector comments on the need for stricter enforcement of the requirement to provide suitable receptacles and to maintain them in proper repair. He suggests that local authorities should agree on and adopt a standardised receptacle for the storage of refuse which when full would not be too heavy for one man to lift. The use of this receptacle, by obviating the necessity for second handling, which is necessary at present in dealing with receptacles which are too large for convenient removal, would effect economy and would be an improvement hygienically.

Costing Return.

After consultation with representatives of the Incorporated Sanitary Association and the Institution of Cleansing Superintendents (Scottish Branch), we issued a return to the larger burghs asking for information about the annual cost of the various services undertaken by their public cleansing departments. This information will be of great value in advising local authorities on public cleansing matters generally.

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