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105
BAKEHOUSES.
The bakehouses, to the number of 134, viz., 74 in North
Kensington, and 60 in South Kensington, were, as usual,
regularly inspected, and such action was taken, in individual
cases, as was found to be necessary for ensuring compliance
with the sanitary provisions of the Factory and Workshop
Acts, 1878 to 1895, and the Public Health (London) Act, 1891.
In the annual report for 1894 (pp. 152 to 166 inclusive), when
dealing with the "regulation of bakehouses," I summarised
the steps which had then been recently taken by the County
Council with the object of securing such an amendment of the
law as would enable the sanitary authority to exercise an
efficient control over bakehouses. The Council thought that
the Factory and Workshops Bill, which was to be brought in
by the Government in 1895, would afford an opportunity for
amending the law relating to bakehouses, and the Public
Health Committee of that body waited upon the President of
the Local Government Board to press their views with
reference to the matter. The President stated that it was
improbable that any clause would be inserted in the proposed
Bill dealing with London bakehouses, as the Bill would have
reference to the whole country, and not particularly to London
and he suggested that the Council itself should introduce a
Bill. In accordance with the Committee's recommendation,
the Parliamentary Committee was (in January, 1895),instructed
to prepare a Bill amending the law relating to bakehouses in
London, in accordance with the Council's views; but no action
was taken. One provision with reference to bakehouses is
contained in the Factory and Workshop Act, 1895, in section
27 (3), to the effect that " a place underground shall not be
used as a bakehouse unless it is so used at the commencement
of this Act," i.e., at the beginning of the year, 1896; but
magisterial rulings have practically made this provision
inoperative, as explained in previous reports.