View report page

62
of 1878 (as regards effluvia from drains, closets, &c., or other
nuisances, and whitewashing or cleansing), reported by the
Inspector of Factories. Hitherto, Sanitary Authorities have
never been required to make a report of this kind. Doubtless,
in most cases, they have approved of their Medical Officers or
Health giving information freely to the Government Inspectors
as to the sanitary improvements carried out in Factories and
Workshops. But that they shall be themselves compelled to
report their action to an official is, we believe, an entirely new
departure in legislation.
Clause 5 fixes the penalty for employment of persons in
places injurious to health at a maximum of £20. Under clause
6, a similar penalty is imposed for permitting the making of
wearing apparel in a building any inmate of which is suffering
from scarlet fever or smallpox. No reference is made in respect
of workshops, &c., infected with diseases other than those named,
although, as is well known, they are not the only ones the infection
of which is communicable by means of clothing.
Clause 10 gives power to a court of summary jurisdiction on
complaint by the Inspector of Factories to require the occupier
of a factory or workshop to provide a sufficiency of moveable
fire-escapes for his employes. The Act of 1891 provides for
"such means of escape in case of fire . . . . as can be
reasonably required" to the satisfaction of the Sanitary Authority
(whose duty it is made to see to the execution of that portion of
the Act). This provision refers only to factories of over forty
workers. It seems reasonable to expect that in any workshop
where this number of hands are engaged the same protection
should be afforded. This may be secured by amending Section
VII. of the Act of 1891 (Provision against Fire) by adding the
words "or workshop" after the word "factory," and making the
operation of the section retrospective.
Laundries.—Under Clause 19, the Factory Acts are applied
to public laundries, those in which "steam, water, or other