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105
'Factory and Workshop Act, 1895.—It appears to me
that the new Factory Act is having a good effect in respect
of overcrowding, and the warming of workrooms. The fact
that the amount of cubic space is now legally regulated has
convinced the occupiers of workrooms that it is not a "fad"
of the Inspector to restrict the number of " hands who may
occupy a particular workroom. I have so far, however,
found comparatively few rooms overcrowded and none
seriously so.
'During the winter I inspected workshops, &c., with a
special view to the warming of workrooms, and 1 am pleased
to report that the larger number of such rooms in this parish
were found to be warmed by good open tires or asbestos gas
stoves. In many cases I was enabled to obtain improved
means of warming with, as I believe, manifest advantage to
employers and employed alike. In the month of November I
reported the close and oppressive atmosphere of a bootmaker's
workshops, owing to the rooms being warmed by open gas
jets hanging low down therein. The matter was brought to
the notice of the firm and these rooms are now wanned by
asbestos gas stoves fitted with a fiue into the chimney. The
difference in the atmosphere is very marked and much appreciated
by the employes. The ready acquiescence of the firm
in my requirements was entirely due to the recent legislation,
Section 32 of the Factor and Workshop Act, 1895.
'Yards, Floors, roofs, &c — A number of yards attached
to laundries, reported as damp and uneven, have been well
paved with concrete and cement, and others have been
repaired. Thirty-nine rooms have had either floors or ceilings
or roofs repaired, and in one laundry the washhouse has
been more efficiently drained, thus rendering it dryer for the
washers.