[Report 1938] / Medical Officer of Health, Wakefield City.

  • Wakefield (England). City Council.
Date:
1938
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1938] / Medical Officer of Health, Wakefield City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    33/138 (page 31)
    i during the year. A total of 91 ashplaces have been discontinued a and standard sized ashbins substituted for refuse storage. | LITTERING OF STREETS AND OPEN SPACES. The littering of our streets and open spaces with paper and d other refuse is still thoughtlessly carried on by the general public, & and it is to be regretted that greater care is not exercised in c preventing the bespoiling of our thoroughfares and open spaces E in this manner. For some years now receptacles have been pro- d vided in the principal streets and public spaces, but the provision rj made in the City specially for the deposit of this form of refuse fl does not appear to have been appreciated to the extent desired. 1 In addition, a good deal of publicity on the subject has been d given both in the press and through v/ireless broadcasting, but '3 still we find many of our streets and public spaces presenting i an ugly and dirty appearance simply due to carelessness. A bye- jj law prohibiting the deposit of refuse in the highway or open spaces has been in operation in the City since 1929, but this has it not been the means of securing the improvement expected at [J the time of its adoption. At the present time the tendency is )] for many of the unsightly spaces in our towns to be removed a or beautified, and it is to be hoped that in corresponding manner [i the surface of our streets and open spaces will be less used as a d means for disposing of surplus refuse and litter. SMOKE ABATEMENT. The number of smoke observations taken of factory chimneys b during the year was 71, and the details of same are set out in l| Table 1 following in the Report. The results of these observations may be compared with l. those of previous years by reference to Table II. On comparison n it is found that the results of observations made in 1938 show :i an improvement on those recorded in 1937. This is particularly d noticeable in the case of chimneys with no emission of smoke. It is hardly correct, however, to recognise these figures as present- ri ing a true picture as to the emission of smoke in the City, and it ai is to be regretted that no general improvement in the clarification of the atmosphere can be recorded. The pollution of the atmosphere still remains one of those sanitary reforms where an improvement is long overdue, and, T in spite of the many improved forms of heating now available, n we still find tons of soot being annually deposited into the atmos-