regard to other houses which, though occupied, are likely to be readily available for the purposes of conversion, such information might be included in the return. As indicated above, the summary and schedules when completed should be sent to the Housing Commissioner for your district (in London to the London Housing Board), who will be glad to receive any further information which may be helpful to him in dealing with the matter. The local authority should immediately consider what properties could with advantage be converted into working class flats or tenements, and should, as soon as possible, submit definite proposals to the Housing Commissioner in the manner which will be laid down in the Manual. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, E. R. FORBER, Assistant Secretary. To the Clerk to the Local Authority. [It is not considered necessary to reprint forms D. 81 and D. 81 A, as they can be obtained on application to the Ministry of Health.] CIRCULAR OF BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES. RABIES (AMENDMENT) ORDER OF 1919. Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, Whitehall Place, S.W.1. 6th August, 1919. Sir, I am directed by the President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to refer to the Board's letter of the 15th April last (A. 327/C.) forwarding copies of the Rabies Order of 1919, and to state for the information of your Local Authority, that in connection with the working of the Order it has been observed by the Board that in a large number of reported cases of suspected Rabies a Notice (Form A.1.) under Article 7 of the Order has been served in respect of the dog or cat which was the subject of the report, and which if the existence or suspected existence of Rabies is established must be slaughtered by the Local Authority under Article 3. In order to remove any question as to the procedure to be adopted in such cases the Board have considered it desirable to amend the Order, so as to require the detention and isolation by the owner of dogs or cats reported to be affected or suspected, and also of other dogs and cats kept on the same premises, pending the confirmation or otherwise of the suspicion of disease by the enquiry prescribed under Article 5 of the Order. Copies of the amending Order are sent to you herewith. It is to be observed that the new Order provides that the requirement of isolation shall cease on notification by the Local Authority to the person who gave notice of disease that it has been proved to their satisfaction that the reported dog or cat was not affected with Rabies. The Board will therefore be glad if the Local Authority will instruct their Inspectors to draw the special attention of owners and other persons reporting suspected cases, to the requirements of the new Order, and will also arrange for the necessary notification to such owners or persons in cases where the veterinary inquiry satisfies the Local Authority that Rabies is not present. In cases in which the Veterinary Inspector making the inquiry under Article 5 is satisfied that the dog or cat should be treated as being diseased or suspected, the Local Authority will cause the dog or cat to be slaughtered and will cause a Notice (Form A.1.) to be served in the manner contemplated in the Order in respect of any dog or cat which has been in contact with the reported dog or cat, but the Board are advised that pending the confirmation of such suspicion by investigation at the Board's Laboratory, the isolation of the dogs or cats, which have been in contact with the suspected dog or cat, on the premises of their owner is sufficient. This should be effected by the service of Notices (Form A.1.) with Sub-Section 1 of that Notice deleted. In cases in which the existence of Rabies is confirmed by the investigation at the Board's Laboratory, the Board desire to secure the isolation of all dogs and cats which have been in contact with the rabid dog or cat, where possible, on the premises of a Veterinary Surgeon, and in such cases the procedure indicated in paragraph 4 of the Board's Circular Letter of the 15th April (A. 327/C.) should be followed. The method by which detention on suitable premises is to be secured is by the withdrawal of the original Notice (Form A.1.) by the service of a Notice (Form B.) which will be forwarded by the Board on hearing that veterinary or other premises are available, and the simultaneous service by an Inspector of the Local Authority of a fresh Notice (Form A.1.) requiring the detention and isolation of the dog or cat on the veterinary or other premises selected by the Local Authority for the purpose. It is important that when serving notices in either form, particulars as to the prescribed place of detention should be carefully filled in, and that the date indicating the termination of the period of detention in the Form A.1. [Sub-Section 2] should in all cases be specified. As indicated in the Circular Letter of the 15th April, that date should be the date of expiry of a period of six months. from the date of contact with the rabid animal. A Notice A.29/A., requiring the publication of the new Order by your Local Authority is also enclosed herewith. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, The Clerk of the Local Authority. A. D. HALL, ORDER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD. FINANCIAL STATEMENT AND AUDIT OF ACCOUNTS. THE LOCAL FUEL AND LIGHTING JOINT COMMITTEES (FINANCIAL STATEMENT, ETC.) ORDER, 1919. TO EVERY LOCAL FUEL AND LIGHTING JOINT COM- To every District Auditor; And to all others whom it may concern. WHEREAS by the Local Fuel and Lighting Joint Committees (Audit of Accounts) Order, 1918, made by the Board of Trade under the Defence of the Realm Regulations, it is provided that the accounts of the receipts and expenditure of Local Fuel and Lighting Joint Committees appointed by two or more Local Authorities in England and Wales in pursuance of the Household Fuel and Lighting Order, 1918, shall be made up yearly to the 31st day of March, the first account being made up to the 31st March, 1919, and shall be audited by a district auditor, and the enactments relating to audit by district auditors of accounts of urban district councils and their officers, and to all matters incidental thereto and consequential thereon, shall apply to the audit of the said accounts : NOW THEREFORE, in pursuance of Our powers in that behalf, and by arrangement with the Board of Trade, We, the Local Govern ment Board, hereby Order and Prescribe as follows :— ARTICLE I.-(1) Subject to any departure to which We may hereafter assent, or to any direction which We may hereafter give, the Financial Statement to be prepared and submitted to the District Auditor, in accordance with Section 3 of the District Auditors Act, 1879, by every Local Fuel and Lighting Joint Committee appointed by two or more Local Authorities in England and Wales, for the period from the date when the Local Fuel and Lighting Joint Committee came into office up to the 31st day of March, 1919, and for each succeeding year or part of a year shall, until We otherwise Prescribe, be in the Form in the Schedule to this Order : Provided that in the case of the Financial Statement for any period being part only of a year, such verbal alterations as may be necessary shall be made in the Form with respect to the period to which the Financial Statement relates. (2) The Financial Statement shall be made in triplicate, and shall contain the particulars specified or referred to in the said Form, so far as they are applicable, and the certificate of the District Auditor to be appended to each of the Statements shall be in the form set forth in the Schedule to this Order at the foot of the Statement; one of the Statements shall, after it has been duly certified by the District Auditor, be forwarded by him to the Board of Trade, Coal Mines Department, Household Fuel and Lighting Branch, and another of the said Statements, certified as aforesaid, shall be forwarded by him to Us. ARTICLE II.-In relation to the audit of the accounts of every Local Fuel and Lighting Joint Committee appointed by two or more Local Authorities in England and Wales, We direct that subsection (10) of Section 247 of the Public Health Act, 1875, shall be modified by the addition thereto of the following proviso: Provided that a local fuel and lighting joint committee may, on the completion of the audit, if they think fit, in lieu of publishing an abstract of their accounts in some one or more of the iocal newspapers circulated in the district, cause to be advertised in some one or more of those local newspapers notice that the audit has been completed, and that the audited accounts and statutory financial statement will be open for inspection, without payment, by any ratepayer or owner of property, or by any local government elector, as the case may be, in the area of jurisdiction of the joint committee, at all reasonable times within the period of fourteen days from a prospective date to be mentioned in the notice. ARTICLE III.-This Order may be cited as The Local Fuel and Lighting Joint Committees (Financial Statement, Etc.) Order, 1919." |