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IV. Outworkers' Lists.—Under Section 107 of the Act,
employers in certain industries, namely: (a) making, cleaning,
washing, altering, finishing and repairing of wearing apparel;
(6) ditto for lace, lace curtains and nets; (c) cabinet and furniture
making and upholstery work; (d) electro-plating; (e) making of
files and (f) fur-pulling, have to keep, in prescribed form, lists of
employes working outside the factory or workshop. Such lists
have to be sent on or before February 1st and August 1st in each
year to the Borough Council. In cases where such outworkers
do not reside within the limits of the Borough in which they work,
then their names and addresses are to be sent on to the Council in
whose district they reside.
In Finsbury, during 1903, we have received 109 lists from 75
employers, 34 of whom have acted in accordance with the Act, and
sent two lists during the year at or about the stated periods.
Forty-one employers have sent once. It will be seen from the
following table that but few employers comply strictly with the requirements
of the Act. The 59 lists received February 1st to June
30th were practically all " first lists " due on February 1st, and the
39 lists received August 1st to December 31st, should have been
sent in during July. So that, out of 109 lists, only 11 were
received at the statutory periods. It has been necessary to
take action under Section 107, sub-section (5), to enforce more
accurate returns. The penalty to which employers are liable for
contravening this requirement of sending in lists is £2, or for second
offence £5. Reference is made to this matter subsequently. These
109 lists have chiefly been from firms concerned in the making or
preparing of wearing apparel (section a). We have received several
lists from fur-pullers (furriers) (section f). Sections (c), (d) and (e)
have, generally speaking, furnished no lists. We have received 90
lists of outworkers from 18 Local Authorities in whose districts
outworkers are employed who live in Finsbury. In this way we
have obtained the names and addresses of 342 outworkers obtaining
work from elsewhere but living and working in Finsbury. The
following Table furnishes in brief the facts obtained under Section
107 of the Act:—