View report page

67
FACTORY AND WORKSHOP ACT, 1901.
FACTORIES, WORKSHOPS, AND WORKPLACES.
In a previous Report a short account was given of the operationsjof the
Department with respect to these places both before and since the passing of
the Act, which came into force on January 1st, 1902.
The staff engaged upon the Workshop inspection now consists of three
Workshop Inspectors and two Women Inspectors; any defects of drainage or
construction being dealt with by the District Inspectors. The Assistant
Inspector has also been engaged making enquiries with respect to outworkers
and other special points.
It will be seen from the appended tables that the clerical work forms a large
item in a work of this nature, but this has been now reduced to a minimum.
The following will give some idea of the amount involved. During the
past year 2,944 entries were made in the book recording references to the
Workshop Inspectors, together with letters, &c., received; 14,376 names and
addresses of outworkers were transmitted to other Local Authorities, whilst
some 2,300 notices were issued in respect of various matters under the Act.
This represents only a portion of the work.
A Register of Workshops is required to be kept under the Act, in addition
to which Registers of Factories and Workplaces are also kept, these greatly
facilitating the work of reference.
New Workshops and Workplaces are continually being established, whilst
others fall out or change their character. It therefore is of great importance
that the records should be kept in the best manner possible to economize as
much as possible the time of the Inspectors in re-inspections.
This is evidenced in this year's record by the increased number of
inspections made (6,348 as against 3,614 in 1905), which is in a large measure
due to the system of record and reference.
The increase in the number of inspections may also in some measure be
accounted for by the fact that a number of the inspections were periodical
re-inspections, which should not, as a rule, occupy so much time as initial
inspections.
The system of record and registration is the result of the experience gained
in carrying out the provisions of the Act, and is so arranged as to enable
reference at any time to every detail of the work.