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20
Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
SECTION II.—GENERAL.
The Factory and Workshop Act, 1891.
164 Workshops have been registered by your Authority since January, 1892, when
the Act first came into operation.
Of this number 43 have been added during the past year. In many of these cases
I am glad to say that registration has led to either the abatement or the removal of
nuisances such as filth, overcrowding, and bad ventilation.
Special attention has been given to the water-closets both as to sufficiency and to
a separate accommodation for the sexes. The Home Secretary's order under Section
27.—(1) of the Act first took effect on the 20th November, 1892. It was made in
the interests of the public and of those employed in " domestic workshops." All
information under this order supplied me by Mr. Lakeman, H.M. Superintending
Inspector of Workshops, regarding outworkers engaged in the manufacture of wearing
apparel, upholstery, and furniture has been acted upon.
Beyond this the order remains only partially enforced in this parish, and will
continue so unless some means be devised to lighten the more pressing duties of the
Sanitary Inspectors.
In my Report for 1893, I said that in my opinion a special inspector would be
required to carry the order out thoroughly in your district.
This view of the question I would again uesoectively urge upon the attention of
your Vestry
Mortuary and Coroner's Court.
One hundred and ninety bodies were removed to the parish mortuary during the
year 1894, as against 236 in 1893, and 181 in 1892.
This number includes bodies brought from the St. George's Workhouse.
Post-mortem examinations and inquests were held in 78 cases, and inquests alone
in 33 cases.
During 1894 twenty young children were suffocated whilst lying in bed with their
parents as against 13 in 1893. This lamentable loss of life might have been prevented
had these unfortunate children slept in cots.
As pointed out in my Report for 1893 a separate chamber is needed in which to
deposit infectious bodies. This might, I think, be best arranged by partitioning
off a small portion of the existing mortuary. The provision also of a tressel and of
a separate entrance with increased ventilation would remedy the present objectionable
condition of the mortuary.
The Notification of Infectious "Diseases.
Certain infectious diseases have been made notifiable in London since the passing
of the Infectious Disease (Notification) Act, 1889. They comprise:—small-pox,
cholera, diphtheria, membranous croup, erysipelas, the disease known as scarlatina or
scarlet fever, and the fevers known by any of the following names:—typhus, typhoid,
enteric, relapsing, continued, or puerperal.