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re-opened as a bakehouse in February, 1896. The Vestry
contended that the place had not been used as a bakehouse
on January 1st, 1896, and could not, therefore, be used as
such subsequently. The Magistrate who tried the case took
the same view and decided accordingly, but his decision was
reversed in the High Court, and the bakehouse in question
is in use at the present time.
A serious defect in the Act of 1895 was the absence of
a legal definition of the word "underground," but this defect
has been remedied in the Act of 1901, which in many respects
marks a great advance in the sanitary regulation of underground
bakehouses. The main provisions of the Act in this
connection are given below:—
101. (i) An underground bakehouse shall not be
used as a bakehouse unless it was so used at the passing
of this Act, i.e., August 17th, 1901.
(2) Subject to the foregoing provision, after the first
day of January one thousand nine hundred and four, an
underground bakehouse shall not be used unless certified
by the District Council to be suitable for that purpose.
In the next sub-section a definition is given of the term
"underground bakehouse":—
(3) For the purpose of this section an underground
bakehouse shall mean a bakehouse, any baking room, of
which is so situate that the surface of the floor is more
than three feet below the surface of the footway of the
adjoining street, or of the ground adjoining or nearest
to the room. The expression "baking room" means any
room used for baking, or for any process incidental
thereto.
(4) An underground bakehouse shall not be certified
as suitable unless the District Council is satisfied that it
is suitable as regards construction, light, ventilation,
and in all other respects.
Sub-section 7 provides the baker with his remedy should
the Sanitary Authority refuse to grant him a certificate:—