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In 63 instances the ventilation was good, this number including 22 bakehouses situated underground
or partially so. In the remaining 109 premises the means of ventilation were considered fairly
adequate.

There is no doubt that it is more difficult to adequately ventilate a room situated partially or
entirely under the level of the surrounding ground than one situated on the ground level, and
especially so when the room used is really the cellar underneath the shop. Although the high
temperature of a bakehouse during the time that baking is going on is conducive to great interchange
of air, any advantage which might be derived in this way is lost, as owing to the very general opinion
found to exist among bakers that all draughts must be guarded against during the time that fermentation
is in progress lest the whole batch of bread be spoilt, windows and other openings into the external
air are kept closed during work. Indeed, in the case of many of these basement rooms, owing to their
small size and low ceilings, adequate ventilation is practically impossible without creating a draught.
In a certain number of cases the temperatures of the bakehouses were observed. These ranged
from 65° Fall, in a bakehouse where work had ceased some two or three hours previously, to 102° Fah.
in one case where a batch of bread was being drawn at the time of visit. The latter temperature
occurred in a small and badly ventilated underground bakehouse, and appears to be exceptional; in the
majority of cases the range of temperature was between 72°—88° Fah.
No evidence was obtained during the inspection that overcrowding takes place in bakeries.
The condition in which the bakehouses were found, as regards the general state of repair and
cleanliness, is evidence that the supervision of the sanitary authorities is, generally speaking, attended
with good results. In twenty-nine cases out of the total number visited the premises were in a dirty
condition, this being due in some cases to a disregard of cleanliness in the conduct of the business, and
was most marked in bakehouses where confectionery was also made ; in others this condition was due
to insufficient limewashing and cleansing of the walls and ceilings.
At some of the bakeries which were kept in a cleanly condition, small accumulations of dry
flour, &c., were noticed under the troughs; these, however, were evidently not the collections of any
long period, and in most cases it was stated that this refuse was regularly removed twice or three times
a week; this habit of permitting accumulations is very undesirable, as it encourages vermin. In
some instances the paving of the bakehouse was uneven or defective, or entirely absent underneath the
flour trough.
Water-closets were found within or communicating directly with the bakehouse in four cases,
and in six cases the position in relation to the bakehouse was objectionable. In two instances the water
for the use of the bakehouse was obtained from the the cistern supplying the water-closet.
Section 15 (iii) of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1883, enacts that "no drain or pipe for
carrying off faecal or sewage matter shall have an opening within a bakehouse ; " this requirement
applies only to bakehouses occupied newly since June 1st, 1883. During the inspection 37 bakeries
were found to have an inlet which was not aerially disconnected from the drains, though with the
exception of nine all were provided with proper traps.
In the underground bakehouses, situated in the low lying districts which were visited, attention
was specially directed to the question of flooding of the bakehouse from the drains during times of
storm. Information was obtained of this occurrence at five premises. At one of these flooding
occurred a year ago, at another flooding occurred three times in five years, a third was flooded three
years ago during a storm, a fourth was flooded some years ago, and is still liable to suffer during storm,
but the occurrence is prevented by fixing a plug in the drain; at another bakehouse the trap in the
yard outside, and on the same level as the bakehouse, was forced during a storm 12 months ago, and
this had occurred four times in 15 years.
It may be well now to consider the nature of the indirect evidence pointing to the conclusion
that there is need of improvement in the sanitary condition of bakehouses. Such evidence would
naturally be expected to be considered under two heads—
(a) The peculiarities of the occupation as affecting the health of the bakers.
(c) The liability of the bread to contamination.
The subject of the vital statistics of bakers is not one upon which it is possible with our present
knowledge to express any very decided opinions.
Dr. Arlidge in his work entitled The Diseases of Occupations enumerates the unhealthy
influences to which the baker is exposed as follows—
" Exposure to heat from ovens, dust, steam, variations of temperature, in too many instances
unhealthy bakehouses, fatiguing movements necessitated where kneading is done by hand, disagreeable
emanations from materials used, prolonged hours of work, more or less night-work and loss of rest." He
concludes that there are " many incidents in the occupation of baking which reduce vital energy, predispose
to lung affections and shorten life," but comments upon the discrepancies noticeable in the vital
statistics of bakers compiled by different authors, and suggests that this may be in part due to the
disturbing effect produced on the results by change of occupation.