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61
makers, 8 tailors, 6 ladies' underlinen and shirt-cutting works, 12
bakers, and 88 others.
Notifications of 92 new workshops and workplaces were
made to H.M. Inspector of Factories; 3 notifications of young
persons being employed without the Abstract being displayed
were also made; 5 complaints, and notifications of 3 new workshops
were received from H.M. Inspector of Factories. During
the course of the inspections 57 defects were found, together
with the 5 complaints received from H.M. Inspector of Factories,
making a total of 62.
Twenty notices were issued, and the whole of the matters
were attended to, although in one case the owner preferred to
close the premises rather than carry out the works required. I
had several interviews with H.M. Inspector of Factories, also with
H.M. Lady Inspector of Factories, particularly in reference to the
health of the workers employed in the processes of Gut Scraping
and Cleansing at the Deptford Cattle Market, and this matter has
received my special attention on several occasions during the
year. I have frequently visited the Gut Scraping rooms, and
seen the various processes carried out, and whilst it is certainly
very objectionable that the girls employed in the inflating of the
gut for testing purposes should have to do so by means of the
mouth without any intermediary agents, yet I cannot say that
their health appears in any way to have suffered by the practice.
On making enquiry, I found that a machine had been provided for
inflating the guts, but it was not found to be very satisfactory in
its work. The girls were then provided with small nozzles, which
they might fix into the gut, and thus blow through the mouthpiece
provided, but in practice I found that the girls usually left