View report page

29
great inconvenience to the occupiers. On one occasion in the autumn, the
discharge of grit assumed unparalleled proportions, and was complained
of over a very large area. As the result of a communication addressed to
the Underground Electric Railways of London Company, Limited, in the
autumn there was no further very serious cause of complaint up to the
end of the year.
Basement Workrooms.—During the year eighteen new basement
workrooms have come into occupation, and three were closed, there
being at the end of the year 73 basement workrooms in the Borough,
with accommodation for some 500 workers.
As mentioned in my nine preceding Annual Reports, the sanitary
conditions ot these basement workrooms are by no means satisfactory
in respect of lighting, warming, ventilation, and, in some cases, aerial
disconnection of water-closets from workrooms.
On behalf of the Women's Industrial Council a Bill to amend the
Factory and Workshops Acts (1901 and 1907), in respect ot underground
premises used as Factories, Workshops, or Workplaces in which persons of
either sex are employid, was introduced in the House of Lords and read
a third time, but failed to pass through the House of Commons. The
Bill is drafted on lines similar to those contained in Section 101 of the
Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, dealing with underground Bakehouses.
Water Supply.
From the reports of Dr. Houston, Director of Water Examinations,
Metropolitan Water Board, it appears that for the 12 months ending
30th November, 1913, on an average the number of samples of Chelsea
filtered water yielding negative results as regards the presence of typical
Bacillus Coli (the common intestinal micro-organism) was 90 9 per cent.,
when 100 c.c. of water were taken as the basis of bacterioscopic examination,
the corresponding figure for the previous year being 91 per cent.
The worst months were January (39 per cent. of the samples gave
a positive result as regards B. Coli), and December, 1912 (21 per cent.
gave positive results); and the best month was June, when all examples
examined proved negative to the B. Coli test. The percentage of negative
results in the remaining months varied from 88.6 to 98.1.
The Sale of Food and Drugs Acts.
During the year 1913, 100 samples were taken for analysis; of these
400 samples, 163 were milk, 154 being returned by the Public Analyist as
genuine samples, and 9 as adulterated, equivalent to 5.5 per cent. of the
total samples as compared with 3 per cent. in 1912. Of the 9 adulterated
samples proceedings were only taken in one case, in which 10 7 per cent.
of the original fat had been abstracted, the vendor being fined 10s. and
10s. 6d costs. In 6 cases the amounts of adulteration (added water
varying from 1.9 to 2.9 per cent.) were insufficient to warrant any legal
proceedings. In one case (4 4 per cent. of added water) the vendor was
protected by a warranty from the wholesale dealer; and in one case (13.7
per cent. of fat abstracted), the vendor was able to show that the sample
taken was from the bottom of a counter pan, and that the cream had
probably been extracted in the course of serving, so no proceedings were
taken.