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1904]
178

Laundries.-There were, at the end of the year, 171 laundries on the register, compared
with 191 at the end of 1903. On the whole, the work is carried on under much better conditions
than in 1896, when laundries were first brought under the Factory and Workshop Act.
Though many of the hand laundries are well kept and well arranged, others are carried on in
such unsuitable premises and are so badly managed that the gradual absorption of the business
by the large steam laundries is a matter for congratulation. Practical reforms in the law, which
I have previously advocated, are:—(1) The requirement of additional cubic space per person
(say, 400 instead of 250 cubic feet) in ironing rooms, where there is a stove ; this would prevent
the workers from having to stand close to the stove, as some do at present, in rooms which
are not legally overcrowded. (2) The requirement of a minimum height (say 10 feet) in ironing-rooms
where overhead drying is carried on. As regards the danger arising to the workers
from infected linen, it is difficult to see how it is to be avoided, as the linen must be counted
and sorted when it is received, and the indiscriminate boiling or soaking in disinfectants of
each parcel before sorting would mean ruin to many of the articles, and would certainly not
make the business a financial success.
Homes of Female Homeworkers—During the year 202 lists, with the names and addresses
of 1,774 homeworkers, have been received from Islington employers. Few of these were received
bv the dates specified in the Factory and Workshop Act, namely, the 1st of February
and the 1st of August. This was partly due to carelessness and partly to the fact that in some
trades there are very few homeworkers at those dates, as the busy season begins a few weeks
later, and the lists are kept till then. When the lists were a month overdue, notices were sent
to the employers reminding them of their obligations, which resulted in the desired informa-