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51
FACTORY AND WORKSHOP ACT, 1901.
Section 132 of the above Act provides that "the Medical Officer of
Health of every district Council shall, in his Annual Report to them
report specifically on the administration of this Act in workshops
and workplaces, and he shall send a copy of his Annual Report or so
much as deals with this subject, to the Secretary of State."
In accordance with this order, I herewith give an an account of
be administra ion of this Act so far as it relates to workshops and
workplaces in the Borough of Hackney, during the year 1902.
Preliminary.—The Borough of Hackney which has an area
of 3,234 square acres, a population of 221,730 persons and about
31,000 inhabited houses, was regarded 20 years ago as a part of the
surburbs, its population then consisting mostly of the well-to-do
niddle class with a proportion of the independent classes ; the
working classes formed then a small portion of the population, at the
present time the artizans form the very great bulk of the population.
This will be seen from the following table prepared from th6 census
returns of 1901. The analysis of the population of Hackney, with
respect to occupations was not given in the census of 1881,
twenty years ago, so that an exact comparison of the populations
of this Borough at the two periods of 1881 and 1901
cannot be made, but it is sufficient to know that between the periods
the character of the Borough has greatly altered. From being almost
rural district, it has become essentially a working class and
manufacturing district. In support of this statement, I have only to
state that there are 367 factories and over 1,658 workshops in the
districts, and these are increasing every year. During the year 1902
there were 29 fresh factories and workshops erected in the district.
Table shewing the Occupations of Males and Females aged 10
years and upwards in the Borough of Hackney.