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130
underground rooms which are separately occupied, should be made
to apply to underground workrooms.
Public Washhouses.
It is of vital interest to many residents of the Borough that the
Council has decided to provide a further supply of public washhouses
for the north part of the Borough. This I have always believed to be
a most important step. When one considers the unfitness from a
sanitary point of view of a small house for carrying on washing and
drying operations, the amount of dampness to the house and general
discomfort which it must cause to the children and other occupants of
the small kitchens in which the processes are carried on, it will be seen
at once what an enormous boon a public washhouse offers to the smaller
householders. The gain from an economic point of view is also considerable.
The amount charged for the use of a small compartment,
such as will be provided in these places, with the necessary hot water,
steam boiling pan, drainer, washtub, scrubbing board and draw-out
drying horse, must be much less than the cost of washing at home,
besides being infinitely more clean and healthy. It thus enables a very
deserving class of women to make ends meet more easily; whilst the
children get a home free from the steam and wet attendant on the
house washing, and thus infinitely more comfortable.