View report page

No infectious disease occurred in rooms used for any laundry
purpose, but 4 cases of scarlet fever occurred in tenement houses in
which laundry work was done, and 6 persons from infected houses were
employed in laundry work elsewhere.
Underground Work.places.—The increasing tendency (to which I
have referred under the heading of Drainage) to the formation of deep
basements and sub.basements, and the utilisation of such places for
work.places, restaurants, &c., brings with it greater difficulties in
securing that such places are properly ventilated, warmed and lighted.
In large premises, mechanical systems of ventilation are employed,
whereby either fresh air is pumped in or the used air is extracted, or
both methods may be employed. One difficulty is to ensure that the
air pumped in is obtained from a clean source ; in more than one
instance it has been found that the inlet for fresh air was in contiguity
with the outlet; in one case the outlet of a shaft from the lavatories
was being placed immediately below the intake for the grill.room; in
others that the source of the air was a central well into which kitchens,
lavatories, or other rooms were sending a varied selection of smells.
Similar trouble also arises where merely inlet fans are in use.
Mechanical systems of ventilation, to work successfully, require
skilled persons to supervise the working according to varying atmospheric
conditions. The expense of running fans in small workshops
leads frequently to their not being kept working.
A Bill was introduced into Parliament to give local authorities
greater power over the premises underground in which persons are
employed in certain trades and industries, chiefly those of a sedentary
nature, including, however, restaurant kitchens. The object of the
Bill was to require that such places should be certified as being suitable
as regards construction, lighting, temperature, ventilation, freedom
from damp, &c., on the same lines as the last Factory Act dealt with
underground bakehouses.
The City Council have previously expressed the opinion that premises
should not be allowed to be used for the preparation or sale of food
until certified as suitable, but with regard to the other classes of
business mentioned in the Bill, the Council expressed the opinion that