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Information was given in the report under several headings, e.g., "Overcrowding,"—"Sanitary
Conveniencies,"—"Warming and Ventilation,"—" Defective Workshops, Yards, &c.," and
" Infectious Disease."
Outworkers.—With respect to "Outworkers," the Inspectors reported that—
"Since the coming into operation, under the provisions of the Factory and Workshop Act,
1901 (sec. 107), of the 'Home Work Order,' which requires lists of outworkers to be forwarded to
the Local Authority, we have found 800 premises at which home work is carried on. All of
these premises have been visited, and reports have been forwarded to the Medical Officers of
Health of other boroughs, giving the names and addresses of 250 outworkers not living, but
employed by firms, in the Borough. We note with satisfaction that in the majority of cases the
homes of outworkers were found in a satisfactory condition; in a few cases only was it necessary
to serve cleansing notices. It is to bo regretted that employers, generally, fail to realize their
duty to send in lists of outworkers twice a year (in February and August), as the Act directs.
Many of them appear to be under the impression that they should wait for a notice from the
Council before doing so. The defaulting firms have all been communicated with, and an
improvement in this respect may reasonably be hoped for. Should this hope not be realized, we
think proceedings should be taken as the only remaining means of enforcing the provisions of
the Order.
Restaurants and Dining Rooms.—The Inspectors under this heading report that "the inspection
of these establishments, begun in 1901, has been continued with good results. At the end of the
year, 92 premises where women are employed were on the register. Three premises were removed
therefrom, the houses having been pulled down in connection with street improvements."
Complaints relating to overcrowding, whether anonymous or open, were duly attended to: those
relating to illegal hours of work were referred to the Lady Factory Inspectors' Department, at the
Home Office. Complaints of nuisances observed by the Factory Inspectors and forwarded to the
Medical Officer of Health by His Majesty's Superintending Inspector of Workshops received
immediate attention. It seldom became necessary to serve statutory notices; written intimations
of nuisances nearly always sufficed to effect the desired object, and in no case did it become
necessary to take proceedings before the Justices.
The report concludes with a reference to the courteous reception given to the Inspectors by
employers, who, it was said, manifest increasing willingness to give proper attention to their representations
and to remove cause for complaint.
OUTWORKERS.
The Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, section 107, requires the occupier of any workshop,
or contractor employed by any such occupier in the business of the workshop, to keep lists showing
the names and addresses of the persons employed by either of them in the business of the workshop,
outside the workshop, and the places where they are employed, and to send, on or before the
first day of February and the first day of August, in each year, copies of those lists to the "District
Council" of the district in which the workshop is situate. Th& Council are required to furnish the
name and place of employment of any outworker included in any such list whose place of employment
is outside their district, to the Council of the district in which his place of employment is.
With a view to make known to the occupiers of workshops, &c., the duty devolved upon them by
the Act, an advertisement was inserted, at the beginning of 1902, in the local newspapers, a copy of
which, moreover, was forwarded to upwards of 1,000 persons, being occupiers of premises where
registered businesses were 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, moreover, was compiled, and the names and
addresses of all persons working, but not residing, within the borough are now regularly forwarded
to the Medical Officers of the Boroughs in which the outworkers reside.
But any advantage that might have been expected to accrue from the care taken in administering
the section, has been reduced to the narrowest limits by the neglect of occupiers of workshops
to forward the required lists—a contravention of the Act by which defaulters render themselves
liable to a fine not exceeding forty shillings for a first offence, and in the case of a second or subsequent
offence, to a fine not exceeding five pounds. The records relating to this matter, so far as they
relate to workshops, etc., where women are employed, show that in February, 1902, seventy lists of