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1902]
166
There were also 399 kitchens of restaurants, the returns for which, not
fully available, had not been added to the Register at the end of the year.
Additions and Removals from Register.—During the year 206 newly
discovered workshops, containing 393 rooms were added to the register; 124
were reported to H.M. Inspector on discovery, or because they did not exhibit
the abstract of the Factory and Workshop Act. On the other hand 150
workshops were removed from the register, so that at the end of the year
there remained a net addition of 56, to which should be added 399 kitchens.
Sanitation.—Under this heading is shown the action taken with respect
to cleanliness and effluvium nuisances.
Cleanliness.—231 workshops were found to be in a dirty condition ; they
were, however, at once cleansed either by limewhiting or whitewashing, on the
service of notice, written or verbal, on the owners or occupiers. Of these
places 15 were occupied by dressmakers or ladies' tailors, 35 by laundries,
8 by tailors, 14 by shoemakers, 13 by piano-makers and 5 by bakers. In
addition to these there were 131 places in which miscellaneous trades were
carried on.
Effluvium Nuisances. — No nuisance arising from any process or manufacture
was known, and therefore Section 2 of the Factory and Workshop
Act did not require to be enforced.
Air Space.-The ventilation of the workrooms, although not entirely
satisfactory, shows improvement, as only in 4 instances was it deemed
necessary by the inspectors to require additional ventilation. The female
inspector (Miss Gray) calls attention in her report to the fact that there are
signs that a belief in the value of fresh air is spreading among the workers.
This no doubt is so, but unfortunately there is still a great educational work to
be accomplished before the working classes will fully appreciate its benefits.
The recent visits to the underground bakehouses has been a surprise to your
Public Health Committee for they found that in many of the bakehouses the
means of ventilation which had been provided was as a rule closed up, although
they understood that the cry of the bakers was that there was not fresh air
enough in them.
During the passage of the Factory and Workshop Act through Parliament,
the Home Secretary at the request of the Westminster Council, was
asked to alter the amount of cubic space allowable in the case of a workshop
which is occupied at night as a sleeping apartment. This he consented to do,
and consequently Section 3 (3) was enacted. The Home Secretary has now
made the following Order;—