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74
The Public Health Committee, however, felt that an attempt
should be made to meet the requirements of the Home Office with
respect to these persons, and accordingly Inspector Pain was selected
for the work. His first duty was to visit the establishments which
employed Outworkers, but this proved so enormous that practically he
was unable to do little more than ascertain from the employers the
addresses of the people engaged by them.
It frequently happened that when an employer gave him the name
and address of an Outworker, and that when the Inspector called at the
address he discovered that the person designated as an Outworker by
the original employer, was himself also the employer of several other
hands, who executed their work at their several homes. It was also
frequently found that after a short interval on his again calling on the
employer, that the names of the persons on the list on the previous
occasions had been struck off, and others put on in their stead. It was
also often discovered that many of the hands had not only ceased their
employment for the particular tradesman, but were also unemployed
by any other persons.
This must naturally be so, because there are certain trades which
will only be busy at certain periods of the year, while at the other
seasons they are practically idle.
Prior to Inspector Pain's death I recommended that an Inspector
should be specially appointed for the purpose of looking after workshops,
workrooms, and the places where people are employed. At the end of
the year this matter was engaging the serious attention of the Public
Health Committee.
DISINFECTING STATION.
If the year were remarkable for no other work it would be
remembered because of the erection of a Disinfecting Station for the
use of the Parish.
The want of such a sanitary defence had been felt very acutely for
a long time, for it was anything but satisfactory that so important a