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Slop Sinks for Filth, and Urinals.—18. Beneath any sink for Receiving excremental filth
for conveyance to a sewer, an efficient syphon trap is to be fixed, so constructed as to be capable
of maintaining a sufficient water seal between such sink, etc., and any drain, soil pipe or waste
pipe in connection therewith. In connection with such sink there shall not be a bell trap, a
dip-trap or a D-trap. The ventilation of the trap of the slop sink or urinal, and the construction
of the waste pipe thereto, are to be in compliance with the preceding by-laws which are applicable
to the ventilation of the trap of a water closet, and the construction of a soil pipe : the internal
diameter of the waste pipe of the sink, etc., to be not less than three inches. The weight of
lead and iron pipes is prescribed.
Maintenance in state of Repair.—19. "The owner of any building shall, as respects such
building, at all times maintain in a proper state of repair all pipes, drains, and other means of
communicating with sewers, and the traps and apparatus connected therewith."
Penalty.—20. For any offence against any of the foregoing by-laws two pounds, and in the
case of a continuing offence, a further penalty of twenty shillings for each day, after written
notice of the offence, given in accordance with section 202 of the Metropolis Management Act,
1855.
Application of By-laws to Existing Buildings.—21. "These by-laws shall, so far as applicable,
apply to any person who shall construct or reconstruct any pipe or drain, or other means of
communicating with sewers, or any trap or apparatus connected therewith, so far as he shall
effect any such works in any building erected before the confirmation of these by-laws, as if the
same were being constructed in a building newly erected."
The importance of the last-cited by-law will be obvious; and generally, it may be observed,
that the by-laws (e.g., by-law 5) justify the past action of the Sanitary Authority of Kensington,
and the practice of their officers in the Public Health Department, in regard to the several
matters relating to the construction and trapping of drains.
Enforcement of By-laws.—The work of the sanitary inspectors during the year was facilitated
by a resolution of the Public Health Committee requiring them to enforce strict compliance
with the provisions of the above and other by-laws.
FACTORY AND WORKSHOP LEGISLATION.
The Home Secretary did good service to sanitary authorities, among others, during
last session, having introduced and carried a measure for amending and consolidating
the Factory and Workshop Acts, and which gives effect to several important provisions
contained in the Bill of 18J5. That Bill comprised 52 clauses, in respect to 31 of
which ample consideration was given by the Grand Committee on Trade. The Government
having resigned, the remaining clauses were adopted en bloc: it was the desire of all
Parties in the House of Commons that the Bill should become law, and the House of Lords
passed it without alteration. Clause 30 proposed to make provision for securing and maintaining
a temperature of not less than GO degrees Fahr. in each room" in which any person is employed,
in which the business of making wearing apparel is carried on." Reporting on the subject, I
stated that this "useful provision should be qualified so as to secure that the means
employed for obtaining the necessary warmth shall be such as will, at the same time, improve
the ventilation, and not deteriorate the air to be breathed by the persons who spend so many
hours of each day in the workroom." "No special provision," it was added, "is made in the
Bill, or in any Act, for ventilation, with a view to secure necessary change of air in workshops."
The clause (sec. 32 in the Act) was modified so as to require that in every workshop " adequate
measures shall be taken for securing and maintaining a reasonable temperature in each room
in which any person is employed." The late Yestry adopted my view that the use of gas burners,
intended for lighting purposes, should be prohibited as a means for securing warmth, but such
prohibition found no place in the Act. The need for it was exemplified in a case which not long
since came before a police magistrate. The proceedings were instituted against a " court dressmaker,"
for not having provided "adequate " means for securing a "reasonable temperature" in
a workroom. The room was warmed solely by open pas jets, all means of ventilation being
closed, with the result that the air became vitiated. The temperature being 61 degrees Fahr.,
the magistrate, after commenting adversely on the unhealthy condition of the room, dismissed the
summons, holding that the word adequate meant adequate to produce a reasonable temperature, by
whatever means. The Act of 1895 defined overcrowding, incidentally, by requiring a definite
amount of cubic space for each person emploved in a workroom: viz., 250 cubic feet, this
being the amount adopted, as a standard, by the late Yestry on the appointment, in 1893, of
lady inspectors of workshops, laundries, &c., where women are employed. The practice,
initiated by the late Yestry, of requiring the affixing in every workroom of a card specifying the
number of persons who may lawfully be employed therein was legalised by the Act. The Sanitary
Committee of the late Yestry endorsed generally the views set out in my report relating to
the above matters, as well as certain recommendations relating to infectious diseases, stoves for
heating irons, prohibition of the use of gas irons emitting effluvia, provision of suitable means
for warming workrooms, flooring of laundries, outworkers, &c., all of which were set out in a