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THE FACTORY AND WORKSHOP ACT, 1895.
Of several Bills to amend and extend the provisions of
the Factory Acts, one only, that introduced by the Government,
became law. This Bill formed the subject of a report
by the Sanitary Committee, whose recommendations were
embodied in a memorial addressed by your Vestry to the
Home Secretary. The Bill met with general approval in the
House, and, as to 31 of its 52 clauses, was amply debated in
the Grand Committee on Trade. The remaining clauses were
adopted en bloc subsequent to the resignation of the Government
which brought the Session to a premature close. Perhaps
no part of the measure excited greater interest than
the first clause which, in effect, defined what should constitute
overcrowding, and the 19th clause, which extended certain
provisions of existing factory and workshop legislation to
laundries; those establishments where steam, water, or other
mechanical power is used being classed "as if the laundry
were a non-textile factory," the laundry in other cases being
treated as if it were a "workshop." No provision was made for
ventilation of workshops, but clause 30 made provision for
securing proper warmth in workshops where wearing apparel
is made, a temperature of 60° Fahr. being specified. The
House of Lords passed the Bill without alteration and the
Act came into force January 1st, 1896.
The Act. —The first section, as above intimated, defines
overcrowding by providing that for every person employed in
a workroom, an air space of 250 cubic feet shall be provided
during the usual hours of work, and a space of 400
cubic feet during any period of overtime, this being the
standard your Vestry had adopted in 1893, when the first
women inspectors of workshops, &c., were appointed. To
ensure the due carrying out of this section, it is enacted that
section 78 of the " principal Act " (i.e., the Act of 1878) shall
read as if there were included among the notices required by