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1927
48
a filtration plan was called for. Large quantities of water had for some time been
taken from the mains of the Metropolitan Water Board, and a saving will be
effected from the aspect of finance as well as a gain in purity by filtration. The
sanction of the Ministry of Health was obtained. The plant is capable of
treating 400,000 gallons of water in 2 to 5 hours. It consists of eight 8 feet
diameter Bell's Patent Pressure Filters, having a filtration area of 402 square
feet, capable of filtering 100,000 gallons of water per hour, at a rate ranging
from 100 to 174 gallons of water per square foot area per hour according to the
number of swimming baths in use. The filtering material is Leighton Buzzard
sand, as is used in waterworks plant, the depth of each filter bed, which contains
approximatelv seven tons of sand, is about 3 feet 4 inches. The filters are
cleansed by means of a special reverse flow, secured by the arrangement of
the strainers and by additional agitation of the bed by the revolving of wash arms,
carried inside the filter, which are rotated horizontally by means of gearing. The
plant has apparatus for adding to the water suitable chemicals for coagulating
the impurities, so that they can be arrested on the top of the filter bed, for
sterilizing the water, and for preventing the water from becoming acid.
FACTORY AND WORKSHOP ADMINISTRATION.
The Medical Officer of Health submits the annual report on the manner in
which the provisions of the Factory and Workshops Acts, 1901, were carried out
in his district during the year 1927.
Inspections and Visits.—The inspections and visits made by the three
Inspectors were as under :—
Factories, including Factory Laundries 677
Workshops, including Workshop Laundries 902
Workplaces, other than outworkers' homes 362
Domestic Workshops 82
Bakehouses 324
Restaurant Kitchens (see also p 61) 432
Outworkers' premises 1,184
Miscellaneous re-inspection and calls 4,887
Total 8,850
Notices Served —In consequence of the 1,348 sanitary defects discovered
as the result of the inspections above; 219 intimations and 14 statutory notices
were served. Of these notices 60 were served on the owners of factories, 102
on the owners of the workshops and workplaces, and 10 on the owners of bakehouses
and 33 of restaurant kitchens. In addition to these nuisances, 134 were
discovered on Outworkers' premises, necessitating the service of 28 notices.
Most of these defects were remedied and it was only found necessary in one
instance to resort to legal proceedings. In this case the defendant completed the
work before the summons was heard, but was ordered by the Magistrate to
pay £5 5s. costs to the Council.
Registers. —There were 2,367 workshops on the Registers, as contrasted
with 2,280 in 1926, while the total number of workrooms were 3,291, as compared
with 3,136 in the previous year; 173 workshops were added to the Registers, while
86 were removed from it.