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46
Outworkers
Outworkers are visited periodically by the woman sanitary inspector.
The following is a list of trades concerned, extracted from the
lists received :—
No. of
Trade outworkers
employed
Wearing apparel 295
Boxmaking 48
Carding 6
Sacks 4
Artificial flowers 3
Crackers 3
Brushes 3
Bags 2
Lampshades 2
Curtains 1
367
Complaints of industrial grit and smoke
Complaints have been received over a period of years of nuisance
caused by smoke and emission of grit from the gas works situated at
Lower Sydenham.
Improvements in the type of plant used, and methods of working,
have from time to time been made but complaints still persist. During
the year a grit arrestor was provided on the boiler house and, according
to the staff at the works, this plant functioned satisfactorily and some
6-7 cwts of dust were being removed from it daily. A noticeable
improvement was experienced at the works after its installation. After
a short period, however, residents in the vicinity of the gas works stated
that there was no evidence that the emission of grit had been reduced.
At the request of the local residents a meeting was arranged at the Town
Hall between members of the staff of the health department, the divisional
engineer and local technical engineer on behalf of the South Eastern
Gas Board, and six local residents. After a very full discussion it appeared
that certain relatively minor matters could be remedied but the main
cause of complaint appeared to be due to the smoke and grit arising
from the coking process. This is apparently caused in part by the
inferior quality of the coal delivered to the works, and the smoke from
the coking process, because given off at a fairly low level, spreads to
houses adjoining the works. A different type of retort has lessened this
problem to some extent and experiments are in hand to arrange for the
collection of the smoke, separation off of some of the solid and oily
matter, or dispersal of the smoke at a much higher level.
It is evident from observations, that many of the complaints are
justified, and the matter will be pursued with a view to obtaining any
possible amelioration of the existing conditions.