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42
COWSHEDS.
There are 57 Licensed Cowsheds in St. Pancras. The
Licensees have also, with very few exceptions complied with
the Bye-laws of the Vestry, and the sheds have been maintained
in a cleanly condition.
BAKEHOUSES.
The Yestry will recollect that in my Report for the year
1878,1 expressed regret that the inspection of bakehouses as
such had passed out of the hands of the Yestry. The Vestry
still have the right to inspect for the purpose of enforcing the
cleanliness of the house when it is dirty, but they have ceased
to have power to compel the periodical cleansing of the bakehouse,
except for the abatement of nuisance, and to insist
that the bakehouse shall be ventilated to the extent mentioned
in the late Bakehouse Regulation Act, as well
as other matters over which they formerly had control.
As the result of an inquiry I have recently made, I
find that since the passing of the Factory and Workshops
Act, in 1878, very much more than half the bakehouses in St.
Pancras have never been inspected by those upon whom the
duty now devolves.
On March 17th, 1881, I brought this subject before the
Society of Medical Officers of Health, and from the observations
made by the Medical Officers to other Parishes on
that occasion, I gather that St. Pancras is not exceptional in
this respect.
The Vestry will readily understand that under these circumstances
the bakehouses, instead of continuing to improve,
will become more than ever unfit for the purposes for which
they are intended, and I cannot but express my regret that
a matter so intimately related to the public health as the
condition of premises in which the chief article of food is
manufactured, should have passed out of the hands of those
who are responsible for the health of those who consume it.
The best means of assuring that bakehouses shall be kept
in proper condition is for the Vestry to have the power of
making regulations for their control, and for all bakehouses
to be registered in the same manner as cowsheds and slaughterhouses.
This will best prevent the use of premises which
are often altegether unfitted for the purpose to which they
are put.