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men; Messrs. Fenton's Flour Mills employ an average number
of 10 men; Shrewsbury & Talbot Tyre Co.. 10 men; Army and
Navy Auxiliary Co. (Horseferry-road), 100 persons, including
about 14 females; Messrs. Cook, Hammond & Co., 40 men;
Messrs. Nicholls, 40 men; Messrs. Metchim, 48 men. There
are various other workshops, mainly consisting of dressmakers,
mantle makers, shoemakers, blind manufacturers, map
mounters, &c.
Notes on the Factory and Workshops Acts of
1878, 1883, 1891 and 1895.
The provisions of the above Acts are full of difficulty in their
application, since many of the provisions of the three latter
Acts are legislation by reference. The difference of the
powers to deal with textile and non-textile factories and workshops
would be confusing enough if all the provisions were
enforceable by a factory inspector alone, but when one
attempts to find out the duty of a sanitary authority, who
(through their medical officer of health and sanitary inspectors)
are in certain cases vested with the powers of a factory
inspector, one's bewilderment is almost complete ; for where
the factory inspector's jurisdiction ends and the sanitary
authority's begins, seem to be most mysterious. Nevertheless,
certain duties are clearly defined as the function of the
sanitary authority, as is also the enforcement of the provisions
of the special powers applied to London workshops by sections
2, 25 and 38, of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891; and
perhaps one would almost be justified in saying that by the
enforcement of the powers of this Act, all that a metropolitan
sanitary authority is required to do (which would benefit the
health of the work-people) can be done by that Act. It
seems to me that the only advantages of the Factory and
Workshops Acts to Metropolitan sanitary authorities are, that
certain provisions of the 1895 Act make it easier to determine
the existence of improper conditions by making it compulsory
under penalty—
(a) To affix notices stating the number of persons who
may be employed in any room.
(b) To fix a standard of cubic space for each worker.
(c) To draw attention to the fact that the temperature
and humidity of the atmosphere are conditions which
should be dealt with, and giving power to prevent
these reaching improper points.