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73
Work of the Lady Inspectors of Workshops, etc.—An effort to cope with the responsibilities
devolved upon the sanitary authority by the various Acts, now repealed, was made by
the late Yestry, on my recommendation, in October, 1893, by the appointment of two Laidy Inspectors.
The ladies originally appointed are now factory inspectors, and the successor to one
of them is a factory inspector in New South Wales. The present inspectors, Miss de Chaumont
and Miss Looker, were appointed in 1896 and 1901 respectively. The initiative of the
Vestry in employing women to assist in the work of sanitary administration has been followed
by many sanitary authorities, metropolitan and provincial. In London about one half of the
Borough Councils have made appointments, of some 20 inspectors in all, and other appointments
are not unlikely to follow at an early date.
It is a matter for satisfaction that there has become manifest, on the part of employers,
an increasing willingness to conform to the requirements of the law, with which many of them
had been more or less unacquainted, until they were made known by the visits of the first lady
inspectors, and bv the notices issued by the sanitary authority. The inspectors' visits are nowreceived,
as a rule, with cordiality. In no respect have they done greater good than by the prevention
of overcrowding, and the improvements effected with regard to the warming of workrooms,
and the ventilation of gas iron-heaters, &c. The good work begun by Miss Deane, Miss Squire,
and Miss Duncan, has been efficiently carried on by the present inspectors who have performed
their duties with tact and discretion.
The new Act has added materially to the duties of the sanitary authority and their
officers, as already indicated. The scope of the work, moreover, has been extended by a judicial
decision (see footnote, page 74), which has led to the registration of many workplaces previously
thought to be outside the Act.
Outworkers.—One of the most onerous of the new duties devolving upon the Council's off¬i
cers is that relating to "outworkers." With a view to make known to the occupiers of workshops,
&c., the duties devolved upon them by the Act in this regard, an advertisement was
inserted in the local newspapers, a copy of which, moreover, was forwarded to upwards of 1,000
persons, being occupiers of premises where the scheduled businesses are carried on, together
with a print of the "Home Work Order," issued by the Secretary of State, and the schedule
attached thereto, indicating the particulars required, and the proper form for the return. A
list of outworkers has been compiled, and the names and addresses of all working within the
borough, but not residing therein, have been forwarded to the medical officers of the boroughs
in which the outworkers reside. Corresponding information has been received by me with
respect to outworkers living in the borough but employed in other districts.