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premises in which certain trades are carried on which are classed as factories
whether power is used or not, such are bookbinders and tobacco factories. A
large number of women are employed in factories in the City, but the
existence of the places where they work is left to be discovered by the
Sanitary Inspectors. In the 39 factories visited by your Woman Inspector in
1904, 1,734 women were found to be employed, and no less than 122 defects
were detected.
MANTLE MAKERS.
All the premises (both workshops and factories) where mantle making is
known to be carried on have been inspected. Over 200 houses were visited
in the initial enquiry ; at the majority of places all the work was given out,
while a small number were only showrooms and offices of firms whose
factories were situated abroad. Work was found to be carried on at 78 of the
premises, 17 factories and 61 workshops. The workshops included 113 workrooms,
and nearly 2,000 women are employed in this trade. 130 defects were
fuund, the greater proportion of them being in respect of defective or unsuitable
sanitary accommodation, badly ventilated workrooms, and dirty walls and
ceilings. The occupiers of all places from which work was found to be given
out were notified of their obligation to forward lists of outworkers to the
Medical Officer of Health.
THE USE OF GAS IN WORKSHOPS.
The dangers attendant on the use of gas in workshops for heating purposes,
whether in stoves, heaters for irons or tools, or in gas irons, when no means
of carrying off the fumes is provided, are very little realised by occupiers of
workshops and workplaces, especially in those cases where no smell of '' gas "
is detected.
In this relation it may be of interest to quote the remarks made by H.M.
Chief Inspector of Factories with regard to the inodorous gas, carbonic oxide
(carbon monoxide CO), in a report on water and other gases published in
September last.
In this report attention is drawn to the danger of poisoning from the
carbon monoxide given off by water and other gases of a similar nature, and
in a smaller degree by coal gas. It was pointed out that carbonic oxide
poisoning may occur in many ways. Thus danger of this kind may arise
from the use of gas irons and from defective gas fittings, and from gas stoves,
especially when no provision is made for the products of combustion to be
carried away by a flue or chimney. The absence of a chimney in a room
greatly increases the risk. Carbonic oxide is also found where coke fires are