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74
Underground Bakehouses.
(Spccial Report by the Medical Officer of Health).
The new Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, which was passed
on August 17th, 1901, and came into force on January 1st, 1902,
lays down new and important conditions in respect of Underground
Bakehouses, in London and elsewhere. The Section
bearing upon this subject is 101, of which the first four Subsections
are as follow : —
(1). An Underground Bakehouse shall not be used as a
Bakehouse unless it was so used at the passing of this
Act [i.e., the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901—
August 17th, 1901].
(2). Subject to the foregoing provision, after the 1st day of
January, 1904, an Underground Bakehouse shall not
be used unless certified by the District Council [i.e., the
Lambeth Borough Council, as far as Lambeth Borough
is concerned] to be "suitable " for that purpose.
(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.
The rest of the Section states that, in the event of a District
Council refusing a certificate, the occupier of the Underground
Bakehouse may, within 21 days from the refusal, by complaint,
apply to a Court of Summary Jurisdiction; and if it appear to the
satisfaction of such Court that the Underground Bakehouse is
suitable for use as regards construction, light, ventilation and in
all other respects, the Court shall grant the necessary Certificate
of suitability, and such certificate shall have effect as if granted
by the District Council.
A Bakehouse, by Section 141 of the Public Health (London) Act,
1891, is any place in which are baked bread, biscuits, or
confectionery, from the baking: or selling of which a profit is
derived.