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54
FACTORY & WORKSHOP ACT, 1901.
The number of Workshops on the Register at the end of 1908
was 394. During the year 22 new workshops were registered.
The inspection of Factories comes mainly within the province
of H.M. Inspector of Factories. The enforcement of Scction 22 of
the Public Health Amendment Act, 1890, is entrusted to the local
authority. Where any sanitary defects is discoveted by H.M.
Inspector in a Factory, which is remediable under the law relating
to public health, and not under the Factory and Workshop Act, he
informs the Council of the defect, and it is the duty of the Council to
arrange for the remedy of the defect. Twelve references from H.M.
Inspector were received during the year, and particulars of the
defects found and remedied will be found in the Home Office Table.
LAUNDRIES.
On January 1st, the Factory and Workshop Act of 1907 came
into force. From a sanitary point of view its most important
provisions relate to domestic laundries. Under Section 103 of the
Factory and Workshop Act of 1901, if the laundries were worked by
members of the family, or with the assistance of not more than two
persons from outside, they were excluded from the Act. Section
103 of the Act of 1901 is now repealed, and if any person from
outside is employed, the house is deemed a workshop. If the work
is carried on by members of the same family, Section 114 of the Act
of 1901 applies, and the premises are not exempt from the provisions
of the Act, which apply to domestic workshops, unless the labour is
exercised at irregular intervals, and docs not provide the whole or
principal means of living to the family.
The provisions of the Factory and Workshop Act of 1907 were
advertised by the Council, but only three domestic laundries have
been registered during the year.
The provisions of the Act are of the greatest importance, and
the danger of spreading infection is far greater in the domestic
laundry than in the factory laundry. In the former the clean and
dirty linen comes into close contact in the narrow passage and in the
other parts of the house, and there is every opportunity for infection
to be conveyed from one article to another. The actual washing is