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new buildings, are kept in a clean condition. Many of these
have to do with the making of dress materials or wearing apparel,
and cleanliness is essential to success in business. The same
cannot be said of a great number of the small workshops situated
in or at the back of residental houses. Many of these are of
long standing and associated with the early industries of
Clerkenwell and the parish of St. Luke, such as jewellery, watchmaking,
plating, etc. Many of such workshops are not kept as
cleanly as they might well be. This is partly due to deterioration
of premises and decline of trade, and partly to their situation.
It is almost impossible to maintain cleanliness in small sheds in
back yards. Sometimes too, the processes themselves are of a
nature to make cleanliness difficult. Perhaps 30 or 40 per cent,
of these workshops are open to criticism on account of uncleanliness.
In 10 streets which have been thoroughly inspected there were
found to be 237 workshops. Of these 61 were so dirty as to
require official notices for cleansing. That is 22 per cent., and
most of these streets contain the better class of workshop. One
or two of the worse streets are included, and in these 40 per cent,
of the workshops were dirty. During the year 120 workshops in
all parts of the Borough have been found to require notices for
cleansing.
(b) Air Space.—Taking the standard of 250 cubic feet per head
as laid down in Section 3 of the Act, it may be said that very
few Finsbury workshops have been found in 1902 to be overcrowded.
In only 8 cases has it been necessary to issue notices.
In other cases a slight re-arrangement of workers has provided
that each person shall have at least 250 cubic feet. In many of
the large workshops the air space provided is liberal. In general
it may be said workshops in Finsbury are not ventilated by fans,
or warmed with hot water pipes.
(e) Ventilation.—Here, also, it may be said that it is exceptional
to meet with a workshop in the Borough which is not provided
with sufficient means of ventilation. The first clause of the