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1 to 20 in tenement houses was, however, found, in actual practice,
to be insufficient, and was modified by the L.C.C. Bye-law 26,
under the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, Section 39, which
raised the standard to 1 for 12. The standard for factories and
workshops remained, however, at 1 for 20 until the Home Office
standard of 1 for 25 was laid down. We adopted the same standard
in order to be uniform with other authorities, and this standard of
1 for 25 has been our invariable practice since.
It may be desirable briefly to state the scientific reason for such
a standard. The fundamental principle at the basis of the matter
is the extreme importance of allowing for the free and normal
action of physiological functions. And these matters must be
thought of in two directions. First, ample provision must be
made for actual usage; and, secondly, such provision must be made
that there will be no deterrence or postponement of the exercise of
these functions, as may occur unless every facility is provided. The
public do not recognise the vital importance of these physiological
functions both to health and to life, and they thus take upon themselves
considerable personal responsibility. Hut if the Local
Authority by its powers requires too little accommodation in
factories, it takes upon itself part of this responsibility for life and
health, and must, therefore, order such provision as fully meets the
case, and which will in no way, and under no passing circumstances
of ill-health, allow such insufficient accommodation as to act as a
deterrent.
Hence the importance of a standard. Further, such a standard
must be based upon the accepted facts of general medical knowledge.
No evidence can be produced in a Court of law to prove
that insufficiency of sanitary conveniences is not injurious to
health, for the reason that the evidences of such injury are not obtainable.
There is therefore a serious fallacy underlying the suggestion
which is frequently made to us that the apparent health of a
number of workers in a factory or workshop proves a sufficiency of
sanitary convenience accommodation.
Broadly speaking, the external evidences of general health
are three in number: (a) the absence of notifiable disease; (b) a
low death rate; (c) a large measure of regular attendance at work.