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18
REPORT OF MISS BAKER.
Public Health Department,
January, 1904.
To the Medical Officer of Health.
Sir,—I beg to present the report for the year ending
1903 :—
Number of workshops on the Register at end
of 1902 1,801
Do. at end of 1903 2,164
New ones added during the year 337
Removals 197
Number of businesses represented 1,770
Re-inspections made during the year 1,371
Of the new workshops added, 134 were received by
notification from the Home Office; the remainder have been
discovered on my periodical visits.
The figures represent for the most part the trades of
dressmaking and millinery, which are steadily increasing
in numbers in spite of an already well filled district. The
necessary repairs and cleansing are carried out without much
delay, and only in a few cases has it been needful to watch any
tendency to overcrowding, which, however, is not repeated.
One of the chief points in visiting the workrooms in
the winter months is to give a reminder that the temperature
of the rooms must be kept at a reasonable height, a fact very
apt to be overlooked when the girls are busily engaged
during the colder weather, especially when the iron heaters
are much in use; for it is often imagined that these stoves
provide all the necessary heat.
The outworkers employed on this district have almost
doubled in number. They belong to the tailor's trade
generally, and one observes a decided increase in the number
of aliens employed. As a rule this means the establishment
of more workshops, for it is seldom that a foreigner works alone
or with members of his own family only; and in the ladies'
tailoring this is especially the case.
Number of Outworkers on the Register at end
of year 1902 267
Do. at end of year 1903 491
Removals from the district 25
Names received during year from firms within
district, received Februrary and August 1,734
Of which were transferred to other Boroughs 1,141
Received from other Boroughs 144
Re-inspections made during the year 423
35 Domestic Workshops in the district have also been
visited.