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that the examination and certification of the bakehouses should not be
left until the moment when, according to law, they should be closed if
not suitable, or so altered as to comply with the very stringent
conditions laid down in the Act. I would suggest that a Sub-committee,
who would from time to time report to the Public Health Committee,
should be at once formed, so that they may lie able to complete their
work sufficiently early in 1903, and thus enable bakers to erect suitable
bakehouses or to make such alterations as may be required for the
purposes of a certificate, and also at the same time to leave sufficient
time for the Sub-committee to re-visit the bakehouses for the purpose
of satisfying themselves that the improvements will enable them to
grant the certificate to each bakehouse as to its suitability as regards
.construction, light, ventilation, and in all other respects.. This is a
comprehensive certificate, for the words . in all other respects. are farreaching,
and may be difficult for the occupiers of existing bakehouses
to satisfy when all their sanitary circumstances are carefully enquired
into."
The Public Health Committee adopted the suggestion, and the
following letter and memorandum were sent to each baker in the
City:—
City of Westminster.
City Hall, W.C.,
Sir, November 4th, 1902.
The Public Health Committee of the Council of the City of
AVestminster have appointed a Sub-Committee to consider applications
for certificates for underground bakehouses, which are required by the
Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, Section 101, to be obtained before
the 1st January, 1904.
In order that the Sub-Committee may know which underground
bakehouses the owners or occupiers desire to continue in use after that
date, the Sub-Committee enclose herewith a form of application which
they will be glad to have filled up and returned at an early date, in
order that they may view the premises.
As a guide to owners or occupiers, the Sub-Committee have drawn
up a Memorandum embodying the requirements which will guide them
in their consideration of the fitness of underground bakehouses, and a
copy is enclosed herewith, but it is suggested that bakers should not
proceed with structural or other alterations until the Sub-Committee
has had the opportunity of seeing the bakehouse, and of expressing an
opinion as to the likelihood of a certificate being granted on completion
of the suggested alterations.